You Drive Me Crazy
by iiNFAMoUSz
Summary: Can everyone's favorite judgey little witch handle dating Mystic Falls' resident Homicidal Vampire? Bamon.
1. You Drive Me Crazy

Disclaimer: I own nothing at all.

A/N: This is my first fanfic story ever, so rate and review please.

"Good morning, Sleepyhead."

Bonnie Bennett slowly opened her eyes, automatically smiling at the sound of her boyfriend's voice.

"Good morning… how long have you been up?"

"About an hour."

She let a small giggle escape her throat, a sound that never ceased to make Damon Salvatore's heart stop, at least, metaphorically. "Doing what?"

"Looking at you," he said in all seriousness, smiling down at her, his beautiful blue eyes bright with love. Bonnie leaned up and kissed his lips softly, letting his arms wrap lazily around her torso as she rolled over towards him.

As they parted, Bonnie yawned in pleasure at the day ahead of them. It was a cool September Sunday, and she had nothing to do all day but be with Damon. She could vaguely hear Stefan's deep tenor from down the hall. _Elena must be up too._

Bonnie's decision to move some of her stuff to the old Salvatore boardinghouse was seeming to look like a better and better decision every day. Of course, she had to stay home on the rare occasions her dad was actually home, but any other time, she was here, with Damon.

"Are you hungry? C'mon, I'll make you some breakfast," Damon said, getting out of the bed. The cool air chilled her as he lifted the blanket up, causing her to wrap herself up in the comforter. Damon smirked at Bonnie as he quickly threw on some black sweats, no shirt; she always hogged the blanket.

"Okay, I'm coming," she said, smiling, still wrapped up in the blanket, nothing but a white tee and underwear under.

As they walked into the hallway, they saw Stefan and Elena coming down the hall, almost perfect mirror images of them; Stefan in a pair of gray sweat pants and Elena wrapped up in what must've been Stefan's comforter. It instantly reminded Bonnie of the sleepovers that the girls often had in their younger years, and it made her happy to know that, through everything, some things still hadn't changed. _They must've been thinking the same thing_, she thought as Elena smiled up at them, Stefan's arm snaked across her shoulders.

"Hey," Elena rasped, giving Bonnie a knowing look; it wasn't hard to guess what the couples had been doing the night before.

"Morning," Bonnie smiled.

"Feels familiar, doesn't it?" _So she __**had**__ been thinking the same thing I had_, Bonnie smirked to herself.

"Yeah, remember when we'd get up, too tired from staying up watching Leonardo DiCaprio movies all night?" Bonnie laughed as she followed Damon towards the stairs, Elena and Stefan in tow.

"Yeah, but then we'd always get this sudden burst of energy when the radio came on…" Elena looked at Bonnie with a devilish grin that she returned, both girls turning to look at their boyfriends.

Damon turned to Stefan with a confused look on his face, but before either brother could say anything, the two girls tossed off their blankets with some newfound vigor and raced down the stairs towards the living room. Elena quickly ran to the stereo, Britney Spears' 'You Drive Me Crazy' suddenly filling the mansion.

The two beauties began dancing crazily, grabbing the first things they saw and turning them into makeshift microphones. Bonnie and Elena hopped around the living room, singing out loud, not even caring about how horrible they sounded. Sometimes they danced with each other, other times they'd hop up on the couches and dance all by themselves.

Upstairs, the Salvatore brothers watched the two girls over the balcony in confusion, having never saw such a carefree side of their girlfriends. Stefan looked over at Damon with an amused look on his face, and was met with his brother's trademark smirk. Damon gave him a look, as if to say _Why not?_ and smiled as he jumped over the side of the banister, joining the girls on the floor. Stefan broke into a grin, joining the trio half a second later.

Damon grabbed Bonnie around the waist, turning her around as she snaked her arms around his shoulders, the two embracing in a kiss. Bonnie hopped on Damon, her legs wrapped around his hips as he danced around, their laughter heard even over the music. Bonnie looked over and saw that Elena had jumped on Stefan's back, and was sitting on his shoulders, wiggling around with her eyes clothes, singing at the top of her lungs.

Damon took her hand, the other around her waist to hold her in place, and rocked them back and forth to the beat of the music, lip synching. Bonnie was surprised he knew the words, and let him know so with a playful quirk of her eyebrow. "Britney?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me, little witch," he replied mysteriously, with a smile. "But don't worry, we have plenty of time for you to find out," he added with a wink, as he brought her head down for another kiss.

"Elena, I can't see!" The couple looked over to see that Elena had leaned over Stefan to kiss him, her long hair fanning out around his head so that he couldn't see anything but her. Elena giggled and hopped off his shoulders with an agility only being a vampire could bring. With that, Bonnie jumped off Damon and the two girls began dancing around again.

Finally, the song ended, and as the music ceased in its final crescendo, the girls flopped down on the two couches they had been dancing on, chests heaving up and down; Elena's from habit and Bonnie's from genuinely being out of breath. Bonnie glanced over at Elena, and Elena looked back, the two bursting into fits of giggles. For a second in time, they were just two best friends without a care in the world again, their boyfriends all but forgotten.

Suddenly, Bonnie looked down at herself and instantly turned a deep shade of scarlet. In their fun, they had forgotten that they had been covered with blankets for a _reason_; Bonnie had on nothing but her bikini underwear and a T shirt, no bra underneath. Elena had on the even less, her shirt being just a spaghetti strap tank top and a pair of boyshorts. But instead of being embarrassed, Elena giggled even harder, quickly making Bonnie forget all about her embarrassment.

The moment over, Elena got up and grabbed Bonnie's hand as they made their way back towards the staircase, playfully pushing past their confused, but admittedly amused boyfriends. They got to the top of the landing and picked up their respective comforters, the guys right behind them. As Bonnie began to cover herself with the blanket, Damon came behind her and lifted her to him. "I don't know _why_ you're even bothering to cover up…" he said naughtily, as he pressed his lips to hers greedily. He carried her into the their room, and before she could nudge the door closed behind them, she heard Elena's voice giggling low down the hall. "Stefan…"


	2. Move In

"So how long do we have to keep sneaking around like high schoolers?"

"I _am_ in high school, Damon."

Damon Salvatore looked at his girlfriend, a smirk unconsciously forming on his lips. "Oh, yeah. I've been watching Stefan play Prom King so long, I forget sometimes that you all are young."

"Well, I'm not that young," Bonnie Bennett said, a bit more defensively than she planned.

"Of course not, that would make **this** creepy," he teased, moving a finger between them.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but it already is." Caroline Forbes interjected, coming to sit at their table, her boyfriend Tyler Lockwood close in tow.

"Oh great, who invited Vampire Barbie?"

"No one, I invited myself, thank you very much. That only works in houses, Damon, no matter how hard you try to wish me gone." she retorted with a satisfied smirk.

"_Any_ways," Tyler interrupted, knowing this verbal spar between the two would never end on its own, "what's up with you two? I feel like I haven't seen you in days."

"That's because they've been holed up at the boardinghouse, hiding from her dad," Caroline teased, playfully poking Bonnie in the thigh.

This week was one of the rare ones, where Bonnie's father was actually home for more than three consecutive days. Of course, this meant he wanted to spend time with his only child, who only wanted to spend time with her boyfriend. It's not that she didn't miss him, she really did. But she'd gotten accustomed to his long absences, and Damon was always there to fill in the lonely gaps. Now, she couldn't see herself without him. She was starting to think that there attachment borderlined on unhealthy, but she didn't want to dwell on that too hard.

"_Excuse_ _me?_ I'm Damon Salvatore, I hide from no one. Not even absentee fathers that my girlfriend is scared to tell she has a boyfriend," he said dismissingly, as if the notion of her not wanting to tell the world that she was dating _the_ Damon Salvatore was utterly ridiculous.

"One, he's not 'absentee,' Damon, he works a lot; and two, has it ever occurred to you that once he finds out that I have a boyfriend, that I'm going to start having things like, oh I don't know, _curfews_ and stuff? I do still live under his roof, ya know."

"So move out." He said this like it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Move **where**? In case you haven't noticed, I'm sorely lacking in the 'other parent' option. Not that I'd want to live with Abby anyway," she added, mostly to herself, with a look of disdain.

"With me, _duh_." Again, as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

Almost immediately, Damon had three sets of eyes on him.

"Why the hell is everyone looking at me like I grew a third head or something?"

"Did you just ask me to move in with you?" Bonnie asked, incredulously. She was holding her breath, waiting, just _waiting_, for him to say _Well, not __**really**_, or _It was a joke, obviously_ or something very Damon-like in that nature. But instead, what she got was:

"Well, all the important stuff is over there anyways, why not? It's not like I'm asking you to move across the country_. It's 20 minutes away_," Damon replied, not seeing the big deal. Sure her dad would be mad at first, but what was he going to do, kick her out? He laughed out loud at his own joke.

"Damon, that's not funny. That's pretty serious, actually. Are you sure?"

But before he could answer, Caroline jumped up, hastily spewing something about leaving the oven on. Now it was her turn to get the three- headed stare.

"Really, Care, the _oven_? Was that the best you could do?" Tyler asked, not even trying to hide his grin.

"Shut it Tyler. Take the hint and _let's go_," she retorted, looking pointedly at Bonnie and Damon. It was obvious they had some talking to do.

"Whatever," turning to the couple, he said "catch you guys later." And with that, they were gone.

"Now back to what I was—" But before she could finish her sentence, Damon's cool lips were pressed against hers firmly, his hand holding the back of her head. What seemed like an eternity later, he backed his lips away from her, barely giving her space to breathe. She looked up into his unbelievably blue eyes and couldn't for the life of her remember what she was going to say.

"Like I said, I don't see the big deal, but apparently everyone else. So we'll talk about it when we get home," Bonnie didn't miss the slight emphasis he put on 'home.' "But right now, I just want to kiss you."

This time, Bonnie was the one to stop the kiss. "Damon, people are staring."

"Let them."

"Damon…"

"I love you, Bonnie Bennett."

Instantly, her heart felt like it skipped a **few** beats. He knew that was her weak spot, hearing those words. Whenever he wanted to get his way, that, coupled with a passionate kiss or two, was enough to make her forget any qualms she'd had. It wasn't fair. The sad part was, she couldn't seem to find the energy to care. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, she felt that creeping feeling again, like they were moving too fast, but when she felt his lips touch hers again, the thought all but fled. As his lips pressed against hers, all she could think was _I love you too, Damon._

And something inexplicable deep inside her told her that he'd heard her, loud and clear.


	3. Torture

Disclaimer: I own nothing at all.

A/N: Is it too soon for smut? I hope not, because you're about to get some next chapter! Lol Think of this as a teaser chapter ;)

"Stefan, help!"

Stefan Salvatore raced down the stairs at the sound of his friend's voice. As he raced around the corner, fangs out, all he could think was _Please be alright, please be alright…_ He turned the corner and had to stop himself from ripping apart the first thing he saw.

Good thing too, since that thing was his brother, Damon.

"Well, are you just gonna stand there, or are you gonna help me?" Bonnie Bennett yelled at Stefan through fits of laughter.

Stefan let out a sigh of relief. Everyone was okay, there was no disaster. Good thing his heart didn't beat, or it would be going crazy right now.

"Did you just call in reinforcements? You must be getting desperate, Witchy."

Stefan could see now that they weren't fighting at all, but wresting on the floor. Damon had her pinned on the floor, her arms held in his hands above her head, his free hand tickling her ribs while she sang with laughter. From the waist down she was immobile, her legs wrapped in the bearskin rug they usually kept in front of the fireplace, the purpose Stefan couldn't even begin to fathom.

"That's not fair, Damon, you already outweigh me as it is, not to mention the vampire strength. I just thought I'd even the playing field a little." She commenced turned her gaze on Stefan. "But apparently, I see who's side _Stefan_ is on!" She ignored his chuckle, mumbling something about thinking that they were friends, but apparently not.

"Of course he's on my side, he's _my_ little brother."

Times like this, Stefan wished he could stop time so that it'd be like this forever. He and his brother were finally on good terms, and Damon was actually happy for once, as opposed to his usual hobbies of killing and maiming. And it was all thanks to Bonnie. _Seriously, _he thought to himself, _I could kiss the ground she walks on. Anyone who can actually put my brother in his place deserves to be worshipped._

"Sorry, Bonnie, you're on your own with this one. I've wrestled many a times with my brother, and I'm ashamed to say, he excels at playing dirty. Your best bet is to give up now. You know how Damon is; he doesn't give up until he gets what he wants," He nodded at the rug still wrapped tight around her legs. "By any means necessary, I see."

Damon smirked and winked at his brother, then proceeded to tickle Bonnie until tears came out of her eyes. Stefan shook his head and walked out the room, smiling.

"I thought you loved me, Damon. You don't torture people you love."

"I'm **tickling ** you, not giving you a swirly, Bonnie, cut the dramatics," he replied playfully as he tickled the base of her neck, warranting another giggle from her. "Now, if you want torture…"

Damon slowly began to trace her collarbone with his tongue, a pace only being eternal could teach you. He could feel Bonnie stiffen up under him and took that as an invitation to begin making his way up her neck, never taking his tongue off her, never speeding up the pace.

"Mmmm…" He could hear the hum in Bonnie's throat, which only made him want to go slower. It was almost mean how much pleasure he took in making her wait.

"Damon… I… I…" she gasped breathlessly.

"Hmm, little witch? Was there something you wanted?" he whispered in her ear as he nipped at her earlobe.

"Damon…"

"I can't hear you, little witch, you'll have to speak up," he teased.

Damon was waiting for it. He knew it was messed up to make her plead, but he couldn't help it. Nothing turned him on more than when a woman begs for it. Of course, they always tried to resist, Bonnie more so than any female he's been with, but Damon had… _unique_ techniques of persuasion.

Bonnie was about give in, he could feel it. Just a little more…

"Damon…"

"Yes, little bird?"

Bonnie pulled him close, so close that he could _feel_ the blood pulsing under her skin, breath heavy.

Suddenly, before he could even register what had happened, he was on his back, Bonnie straddling his waist. He couldn't move, not one muscle. All he could do was look up at Bonnie, the look of satisfaction evident on her face. _Damn witch, she got me this time…_

"Sorry, Damon, but did you really think I'd let you beat me **twice**? You should know better."

"No fair, what happened to no powers?" He knew that was hypocritical., but he didn't care. He'd just lost and he was mad. She'd pay for it later that night, over and over again, he'd be sure of it.

Bonnie didn't even bother to acknowledge his comment. She leaned down slowly, making sure he had a perfect view down her shirt, and whispered "I win." And with that, she got up, dusted her hands off, and began to make her way back up the stairs.

"You are **not **going to just leave me like this? Right? Bonnie, I swear…"

She never looked back.

Somewhere in the mansion, Stefan laughed harder than he had in years.


	4. Trying Pt 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Sorry, I know I promised you smut this chapter, but this idea has been rolling around in my head for a while now, and I feel I just had to get it down on paper. It was kind of long for a one shot, so I added some more and extended into a three shot! Hopefully, that'll make up for the lack of smut J. And before you jump conclusions, it's **not** a Beremy piece! But anyways, I promise the next chapter will be filled with lemony goodness! ;)

"…and speak of the Devil, look who just walked in. Ooo, we've been spotted!"

"Oh no, he's walking over here," Bonnie groaned to Caroline.

"And _that's_ my cue to go," Caroline whispered quickly.

"Caroline Forbes, don't you dare!" But before the words could even leave her mouth, her friend was gone.

"Damn vampires," she muttered to herself, taking a deep breath to prepare for the awkward moment she knew was coming.

"Hey, Bonnie," Jeremy smiled at her, taking Caroline's previously occupied seat.

"Hey, Jer, what's up?" _Oh no, I should have said his whole name. No nicknames, dammit Bonnie, you suck at this!_

"Nothing much, I was just about to start my shift and I saw you…"

"Well, don't let me stop you," Bonnie quickly interrupted.

Jeremy glanced down at his watch. "It's no problem, I still have 15 minutes," he smiled up at her, not realizing that he was the only one happy about that.

Bonnie tried to smile at him, but she's pretty sure she just looked like she had gas. When did things get so awkward between them? _When I gotta boyfriend, that's when. _Of course, nothing could ever be simple in Bonnie Bennett's life. I get a boyfriend, he cheats on me. I get _another _boyfriend, and he suddenly wants me back. Go figure.

"Hey, Bonnie, did you hear me?"

"Sorry," she replied, as she snapped out of her not-so-pleasant reverie. "I just have a lot on my mind." She smiled up at him weakly. _C'mon, Bennett, get it together!_

"Is everything okay?" he asked, instantly concerned.

"Yeah, it's cool, just thinking about a lot?"

"Is this about Damon?" _Oh gosh, here we go… it's always 'Damon this, Damon that, you deserve better, blah blah blah' with him. I wish he'd just give it a rest. I made my choice, not to mention I'm running out of excuses to keep him from beating Jeremy to a pulp. I wish he'd just get over me already!_

Bonnie glanced up at him. "Sorry, I spaced out again, didn't I?"

"Yeah, kinda," Jeremy laughed lightly.

"Well, to answer your question, no, it's not Damon." She switched her voice to a more stern tone. "Jeremy, you've got to stop. I'm with Damon now, and constantly goading him isn't going to do anything but make him snap. You of all people should know that," she added. She knew that was a low blow, but she needed him to get the message.

"I'll never like that guy, Bonnie, and I'll never think he's right for you."

"And you don't _have_ to. But I've made my choice, Jeremy." She hoped he caught the finality she tried to put in her voice.

"But, Bonnie—"

"I'm pretty sure she said she'd made her choice. Which, if memory serves, was _me_."

Neither one of them had even heard him walk up behind him. _How long has he been listening? I hate when he does that, _ she growled to herself.

"Dude, no one was talking to you." Jeremy retorted, not even trying to mask his anger.

Even though he was still smirking, Bonnie could see the anger in Damon's eyes. Before it could escalate further, she quickly inserted "Jeremy, don't you have work like, 5 minutes ago?" She tried for a nonchalant smile she was sure she didn't pull off, not even close.

He looked at her, and started to say something else, she could tell, but settled on "Yea, whatever. See you later, Bonnie." He got up and walked away, staring daggers at him all the while.

Damon sat down in the now thrice occupied seat. "How long do I have to keep biting my tongue?"

"You ask me that every day, Damon."

"Still haven't gotten an answer I liked."


	5. Trying Pt 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"I'm so tired of the women I love trying to change me. Why can't anyone just take me for what I am?"

Damon had no idea where that came from. It sounded cheesy in his own ears. But as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew they were true. Still, as soon as he saw the look on her face, he wished more than anything in the world that he could take them back.

"Who."

"You." he whispered, almost inaudibly.

"No, 'who.' Not 'what' you are, 'who' you are. That's the problem, Damon, you think you're this big, scary monster. So you think that this is how you're _supposed_ to act, but it's not. Whether you believe me or not, Damon, **you're a good man**."

Bonnie took a step closer to him. "I'm not Elena. I don't want a fuzzy teddy bear, I want _you._ I want your smiles, your kisses, your heart. But I want your anger, your rage, and your bloodlust too. I want it **all**, not just the best parts of you. I love **all** of you."

She took another step closer to him, making them but inches apart. "All, I want you to do is _try_, Damon. Just try, for me. I'm not even saying you have to succeed. But just _try_. You say I'm judgmental, but it's not when you slip up that I get mad, it's when you don't even try to control yourself. You let your anger take over, and you don't care who gets hurt in the process. You don't even try to stop yourself. And that's what I can't overlook."

Bonnie slowly placed her hand on the side of his face, and she could've sworn a piece of her died when he closed his eyes and leaned into her hand, not even trying to mask the pain he was feeling. "But don't think I don't see when you _do_ try, because I do. Every time it takes everything in you not to do something stupid, I see it. And I appreciate it, more than anything in the world, more than you'll ever know, because I know that you're doing it for _me._"

A small smile crept across her lips. "I don't fool myself, Damon, I know you couldn't care less about Jeremy or any guy that hits on me, really. So every time you let a rude comment or a mean stare slip by, I catch it, and I know how hard it is for you."

His eyes were open again, and he was staring at her with an intensity that made her want to just wrap him up in her arms, and never let go, never. "I'll never condemn you for being you, and I won't penalize you for every mistake you make. Again, Damon, all I ask is that you _try_. I know when I tell you to be nicer, it probably seems like I'm not happy with you, and I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that way, because that wasn't my intentions at all. I just want to keep you safe, because, whether you admit it or not, I _know_ you feel bad afterwards, you always do, and I hate to see you upset. I know it may not seem like it, but everything I do, I do it for _you_. I love you, Damon."

Bonnie felt like someone had dropped a ton of bricks on her heart. It was hard, but this talk was a **long** time coming. Might as well get it all out now. He was still staring at her.

"Say something. Anything."

Still, he just stared at her.

"Damon, _please,_" she pleaded with him.

Finally, after what seemed like years: "I love you too, Bonnie," A pause. "and I'll try, I swear to God, I'll _try_ Bonnie, I will."

And that was it. That was all she needed to hear.


	6. Trying Pt 3

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Look, all I'm saying is, if you're going to wear a dress that's higher in the front than the back, why not just make the whole thing short? It looks like you have a cape trailing behind you."

Before Caroline could rip Damon a new one for criticizing her prom dress _yet again_, someone walked over to their table, making a beeline straight for Bonnie.

"Hey, Bonnie, could I talk to you for a minute?"

Bonnie instantly recognized his face. He was on the football team, but she hadn't talked to him in over year, since she quit the cheerleading squad. Honestly, she couldn't even remember his name. _Jeez, Bonnie, rude much? You've only had class with him for four years, and you can't even bother to remember his name? Self-centered much?_ She always put herself on these ridiculous guilt trips, as if it were her sacred duty to be nice to every person she met. Bonnie knew it was irrational, but she couldn't help herself' it was just in her nature to care about everyone.

"Um, sure, what's up?"

He glanced around the table. "Over there, please?" He nodded his head towards an empty table.

Bonnie didn't know what the unnamed jock wanted, but she did know that there was no reason to talk in private, seeing as to how everyone at the table right now had super hearing, sans Matt and herself. There were no secrets she possibly wanted to keep with this boy anyway. She was surprised he was even talking to her; she couldn't imagine what he'd have to say to her so important now.

Bonnie aimed for her warmest, most inviting voice. She didn't want to hurt his feelings, but she had to let him know. "Somehow I doubt you wanna plan anyone at this table a surprise party, so anything you have to say, you can say in front of them."

The jock blinked a couple times; he clearly wasn't expecting _that_ response. "Um, I… uh… I was, um, just going to ask you if you wanted to, um, go to prom with me?" he sputtered, his voice cracking at the end.

Bonnie's jaw, along with almost everyone else's dropped. _Well, I surely hadn't been expecting __**that**_, she thought to herself.

"I, uh, I'm sorry, but I have a boyfriend," she said to him weakly, already feeling bad for embarrassing him even more. She smiled up at him, hoping that would ease the sting a little. It didn't?

"Boyfriend? But I never see you with any guys at school except them," he replied, referring to his former teammates Stefan, Tyler, and Matt.

"Well, _maybe_ that's because he doesn't go to your school. Quite possibly, he could be the guy **with his arm draped over the back of her chair**," Damon abruptly interjected, his voice thick with sarcasm and a slight hint of annoyance more than anger.

Apparently, even dumb jocks had their limits. Embarrassed for the third time in so many minutes, UJ (unnamed jock) turned to face Damon, his face flushed red with what was probably both embarrassment and anger. "Dude, no one was talking to you."

Damon turned towards the table. "That is the second time this week some asshole that was hitting on my girlfriend _in front of me _has said that to me. I swear, this generation has absolutely no respect," Damon said, smirking, but that hit of annoyance was more palpable this time. So was that hint of anger.

"Who are you calling an asshole? I'll kick your ass," UJ replied, obviously angry and wanting to take it out on someone. If it had been a fair fight, UJ might've stood a chance, but everyone there knew it wasn't a fair fight. The only one who **didn't **know that was poor UJ himself.

As if on cue, everyone turned to Damon, expecting something violent to erupt. Stefan was on edge, waiting for his brother he knew so well to pounce, no caring who else was watching. He knew he'd have to intervene because that kid didn't have a hope in the world of surviving on his own. Even Bonnie waiting with bated breath.

Because his back was still turned to UJ, he didn't see the black veins begin to protrude around Damon's eyes, but everyone else at the table did. Just as Tyler was about to tell UJ to get out of there (_More like 'run for your life,' _he thought,) Damon did the unthinkable.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and **did nothing**. Absolutely nothing. Slowly, the veins around his eyes began to dissipate, and when he opened his eyes again, they were back to their usual pale blue and met with the stares of six other pairs of eyes [A/N: Elena's there too, in case anyone was wondering. She just hasn't said anything during this exchange.]

Slowly, almost painfully slow, Damon turned around and faced the unnamed jock, his face still twisted into a scowl.

"Go. Away. Now." He growled the last word, not trying to mask any of the anger in his voice. "Before I change my mind," he added, mostly to himself.

UJ blinked a couple times, his forehead creasing in confusion, but turned and left without so much as a peep, leaving no doubt that there was more than a bit of compulsion in Damon's words.

Damon put his head down and let out the unnecessary breath he hadn't realized he'd still been holding.

"I'm trying, I really am," he stated dejectedly, aiming his declaration at Bonnie only, momentarily forgetting about everything and everyone else in the place.

Sheepishly, he turned and looked at Bonnie, hoping she wouldn't be mad. He hated being the jealous boyfriend, upsetting and embarrassing her, he really did. But sometimes, he just couldn't help himself.

Imagine his surprise when he looked over at Bonnie, and, to his shock, saw her actually smiling instead.

Bonnie was so happy her heart felt like it would swell up and burst. He'd done it, it really done it! To be honest, UJ _was_ being a dick, and deserved everything he got short of disfigurement and death. But that was the problem; she knew Damon would stop at nothing short of just that, death. So to see him actually control himself, and do it specifically for her, to boot, made her want to jump for joy like a little kid. This was **her** man.

Suddenly, Bonnie leaned over and grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him more passionately than she ever had, surprising even herself. She usually isn't that bold, but at that moment, she couldn't care less what people thought. All she cared about was showing Damon how proud of him she was, and how much she loved him. She wanted that to pour into that kiss everything she was feeling at that moment, and she wanted him to know that she was always there for him, no matter what.

When they finally parted lips, Bonnie looked up at him and saw everything she was feeling reflected in his eyes. As if to confirm her very thoughts, he whispered "I love you, Bonnie Bennett."

"I love you too, Damon. More than you'll ever know.


	7. Rainy Days

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: Here's that smut I promised you! ;) I haven't updated in a while, so I decided to make this chapter kind of long to make up for it :) Some people wanted smut and some people liked the lovey-dovey romantic side of Bamon more, so I tried to incorporate both here :)

_This is it, this __**has**__ to be it. Life doesn't get much better than this, it can't._

These were the thoughts running through Bonnie Bennett's mind as she closed her eyes and laid her head back against the headrest of some expensive Italian car with a name she couldn't even pronounce, wind whipping her hair behind her as she enjoyed the warm late summer day. Unconsciously, a smile settled on her lips.

"What are you thinking about?"

Hearing her boyfriend's voice turned her smile into a full- fledged grin as she looked over at him. Just the sound of his smooth tenor was enough to inspire a feeling of joy in the witch. Even though he was sitting right next to her, he always felt too far away. Bonnie yearned to touch him, to caress his cheek just to feel the cool touch of his skin. So she did just that.

"I was just thinking, if this time last year, someone had told me that I'd be this happy, I would've thought they were delusional. This kind of happiness only exists in romance novels. But I've never been this happy in my life."

She could tell her sudden burst of honesty shocked Damon. To be real, it kind of shocked her too. But she had no qualms about telling him exactly how she felt. After all, he was the cause of her recent spurt of happiness. He deserved to know just how good he made her feel, and she intended on letting him know every chance she got.

Damon looked at her for a second, momentarily forgetting all about the road in front of them. It always caught him off guard to hear her declare her love for him. After all, Bonnie was the first woman to ever come out and say she loved him. Sure, he'd told women in his past that he loved them, and meant it too, but none of them had truly loved him back, not the way Bonnie did. It was a true, exclusive love; a love that he honestly didn't deserve. A love that he didn't have to share with his brother, or anyone for that matter. Bonnie was all his, and she'd proven that time and time again. Yet it still never ceased to amaze him whenever she did. A part of him was still waiting, dreading the day he knew might eventually come; the day she'd come to her senses and realize she could do so much better than him, and leave. He wouldn't blame her.

"Damon, shouldn't you be looking at the road, and not me?"

Brought out of his reverie by her voice, his trademark smirk promptly took its place on his lips. "Relax, Witchy, I've got this."

"Are you going to tell me where we're going?"

"Nope," he replied simply.

They drove on for a another five minutes or so, Bonnie with her head laid back once again, Damon still contemplating how he even ended up with such a wonderful woman. Eventually, Damon turned off the road, onto a back pathway that Bonnie would've drove right past had without even seeing. "How did you know that turn was there?"

"Did you forget that I've lived here a long time, Bonnie? I know every inch of this God- forsaken town."

Bonnie smiled. Damon never failed to impress her.

They kept driving for another minute or so, when Bonnie felt little drops falling onto her upturned face. She tried to ignore them, but once she opened her eyes, she couldn't anymore. The sky had went from blue with a few clouds to a dark gray in the blink of an eye.

"Oh no, Damon, it's going to pour," she pouted, her lips turning into a frown. Damon was already lifting the hood of the car, his face a mirror image of hers.

"Well there goes our picnic…"

Bonnie perked up at hearing this. "Is that where we were going? You were gonna take me on a picnic?" She knew she sounded a bit too excited for a simple picnic, almost child-like in her glee, but she couldn't help it. The Damon she knew wasn't exactly the 'flowers and teddy bears' kind of guy, yet he'd managed to surprise her at every turn since they began this affair. Impromptu picnics? Yeah, she could get used to this new Damon.

"Well, it was _supposed _to be a surprise, but you can't have a picnic in the… hail?!"

Bonnie looked up at the road, and sure enough, it was beginning to hail. She had never seen hail in her usually warm Virginia town, and the site intrigued her. She smiled in wonderment at the sight before her.

"Why are you smiling? It's hailing outside, Bonnie."

"Why do you sound so upset? It's just a little ice; just pull over and we'll wait it out."

"_Just a little ice?_ That's like saying a flood is 'just a little water.' Do you know what this hail will do to my paint job?" Bonnie rolled her eyes. **Of** **course **_that_ was what he was worried about. As if he wasn't just gonna buy a new one…

"Well, like my Gram's used to say, 'no use crying over spilt witch's brew.' I used to think that was the funniest saying ever when I was younger. If only I'd known…" she trailed off with a laugh.

"This is not the same thing, Bonnie, not even close," Damon said flatly. "My poor baby," he cooed as he patted the dashboard. A few seconds later he pulled in under a tree with branches tall enough to tower over the car and protect it from the rain. "Oh well, guess we've just gotta wait it out."

"Hey, don't look so sad. It's not the end of the world." Bonnie really couldn't understand why he was so upset. Damon ran through expensive cars and clothes on a daily basis; one little (little to _him_, anyway) car shouldn't be upsetting him like that.

"It's not that. It's just…" Damon turned and looked at her. "I just wanted to give you one special afternoon. You always say I'm too extravagant with my gifts, so I wanted to give you just one normal day. And now that's ruined."

Bonnie couldn't help herself. She knew he was being serious, and she should be too, but she couldn't help but laugh. Didn't he know that she was happy just being with him, that _every _day they spend together was special? She found it hilarious that he thought a little rain would stop her from seeing how much thought he'd put into this.

She unbuckled her seat belt and leaned over toward his side of the car. "You're the silliest man I know, Damon Salvatore." she said with a giggle as she placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

Damon didn't understand where that'd come from, but he was getting used to moments like this. Bonnie never shared her thought processes with him; one moment she'd look like she was in deep contemplation, and he feared that that would be the moment he'd been fearing, and the next moment she'd catch him completely off guard with a random kiss or an unprovoked 'I love you.' He loved moments like this, almost as much as he loved the little witch herself. But, being Damon Salvatore, he didn't know how to express all this with words, so he did it the only way he knew how.

Bonnie was surprised when he deepened the kiss, but then again she wasn't, because Damon usually couldn't keep his hands to himself anyway, so most of their make out sessions ended like this; Bonnie out of breath and Damon with a satisfied smirk on his face. She wouldn't admit to herself, much less him, how much she really liked it though.

Damon broke the kiss and started to kiss his way gently down her neck. Bonnie felt like she would melt in his arms when he stopped and began sucking on her neck, right over her pulse.

"Damon…" she moaned into his ear.

Damon reached over her and pulled the lever underneath her seat, reclining her seat into a horizontal position. He was on top of her in a flash; she hadn't even seen him take off his jacket. He looked down at her and their eyes met before he began kissing her again, this time with even more vigor. Bonnie felt the heat starting to build between her legs and knew by the way he pressed down on her even harder that he felt it too.

Suddenly, Damon stopped and looked up. "The hail stopped; it's just raining now. We could be back at the manor in five," he said with a naughty glint in his eyes.

Bonnie returned the look with a mischievous look of her own. "Actually, I've always wanted to do it in a car…"

Before the words were out of her mouth good, Damon was on her. The last thing she heard was the buttons of her shirt popping before the blood rushed to her head and she could only _feel_. Damon didn't bother to undress her; he just ripped everything off of her, even her jeans. Usually Bonnie would be livid, but right now she wanted them off just as bad as he did. She opened her eyes and saw that he was still dressed, thought that unfair, and decided to return the favor. She wasn't as good at ripping clothes as he was, but she got the job done, even if he had to help her with his jeans. Finally, they were skin to skin.

"Mmm, Damon.."

Bonnie gasped as she felt his warm mouth on her breast. She moaned and ran her fingers through his hair, tugging as he caught her between his teeth. Just as her breath started to return to normal, he started on the other breast and she was thrown all over again.

One hand on the breast he was working on, he slid his other hand down her torso, gliding his hand between her folds and feeling her moisture pool around his fingers. "Bonnie, I swear…" His words got lost in her moans as he rubbed deliciously slow circles around her most sensitive spot.

"Oh, Damon…"

Damon ran his hands down her thighs and gently lifted them until they were wrapped around his waist, slowly sliding up her body as he looked her in the eyes, until he was above her, his body pressed against hers. He slipped his tongue between her lips and kissed her deeply as he sunk into her so slow she thought she would die. She bit his bottom lip, wanting him to stop torturing her, but he never sped up his pace.

Damon could feel her release coming, and as much as it killed him, he stopped himself from speeding up. At that moment, he was in ecstasy, and he wanted it to last as long as it could. "Mmm… Bonnie, I… I swear, I… I can't get enough of you," he breathed into her neck as he pumped into her achingly slow.

He stuck his tongue in her ear and Bonnie came, digging her nails into his back, screaming his name. She tightened around him and felt his fingers squeezing into her sides, loving how good it hurt, somewhere in the back of her mind looking forward to the delicious bruises she knew she would have afterwards. Damon snaked his fingers through her hair as he continued to thrust into her, feeling her body respond to him. Bonnie looked up at him, and wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close to her, despite the already close confines.

Damon looked down, and almost lost it. The sight of her caramel tone contrasted so beautifully against his own alabaster skin did nothing but turn him on even more, causing him to attempt to plunge into her even deeper. He wanted to get lost in her, to be so close to her that they were literally _one_, and he couldn't tell where he ended and she began. Damon could never get enough of her; too much was never enough when it came to Bonnie.

Damon could feel her coming again, and felt himself not far behind. Propelling himself into her, he sent her careening over the edge with his final thrusts, the couple coming at the same time. He relaxed on top of her, occasionally placing light kisses on her collarbone, all the while still inside of her. Bonnie wrapped him in her arms, and as she shifted, he could see the tears in her eyes. He gently kissed them away until he saw her smiling.

"Tears of joy, I hope," he whispered softly.

"Tears of joy," she nodded in agreement.

They lay like that until the sun went down and the rain stopped. Eventually they fell asleep, but awoke soon after to the sound of Damon's ringtone.

"Ten bucks it's Stefan," he mumbled as he fumbled for his phone. He glanced down at the screen. "You owe me ten bucks."

"But I didn't agree to anything!"

"Life isn't fair, Bonnie," he teased with a smirk as he answered the phone. "Yes, brother?"

Bonnie could hear Stefan asking where they were and if they wanted to have dinner with he and Elena later. Damon mumbled something noncommittal, and told him they'd be back at the boardinghouse in twenty.

Damon hung up and put the phone down, and began kissing Bonnie again. "Twenty minutes leaves us with time for a quicky," he winked at her.

"One, you don't know the meaning of a quicky," she laughed, "and two, we have a little… problem." He looked at her, confused, and she picked up a piece of shredded material that she could only guess used to be a part of her shirt. "We have no clothes, Damon."

Damon looked around and said, as realization hit him, "For once, this wasn't _entirely_ my fault."

Bonnie threw the piece of material at him and laughed. "Who cares whose fault it is, what are we going to do?"

"Relax, I'll take care of it," he said casually, nestling against her once again.

"How?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Damon," she said, wary.

The vampire looked up at her. "Don't I always take care of it?"

She thought about it, and realized he was right. "That's why I love you."

Damon grinned and kissed her on her forehead. "I love you too, little witch."

Bonnie smiled and snuggled up closer to him. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Damon shifted suddenly. "What? What happened?"

"Dammit,"

"What?"

"My seats are gonna be **ruined**…"


	8. Family Crest

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: I'm working on another, longer chapter that I keep not being satisfied with, so I keep revising it and it's taking _forever._ So I'm also writing smaller pieces in the meantime because I honestly don't know how long it's going to take me to finish the one I'm working on, if I even do. So, long story short, here's something else that's been floating around in my head for a while. Enjoy! :)

_Just another boring day; school, fundraising, home. Just another day. And I absolutely love it._

Bonnie smiled to herself, reveling in the fact that she even had the option of having 'boring' days. It's been so long since she could actually predict how her day was going to go, she was scared to get too happy; she knew that they had enemies, and that things probably wouldn't stay this was forever, but that was okay because things were great **now.**

"What are you over there smiling about? I mean, I'm good, but I'm not tha—no, scratch that, I **am** that good," Damon said with a smirk. Bonnie rolled her eyes at her boyfriend; he could be so cocky sometimes that it was ridiculous. She'd smiled to herself a small smile again; she would never admit to him that he really **was** that good. Damon's head was big enough.

"Nothing in particular, just enjoying the start of another mundane, predictable, _happy_ day with you," she replied as she grinned up at him. She knew she probably looked ridiculous, still looking at him with stars in her eyes after all this time, but she couldn't help it. It made her happy just looking at him; he was so good to her. Sometimes it all felt so surreal, when you thought about how they'd first met.

Damon smiled down at her and kissed her on the forehead. They went through this everyday; he'd ask her why she was smiling, and she'd reply with some variation of _you, duh._

"You ready? It's almost 8 o'clock," he commented, reminding her that she had school in about 20 minutes.

"Yupp, lemme just get my jacket," she said as she hopped off the bed towards the walk in closet they shared.

"Hold on, I have something for you," he said as he turned his back to her, opening one of the antique mini drawers he had on his dresser.

Bonnie turned and looked at him. "You do? Damon, we talked about this…" she replied, trying to sound serious, but not being able to fully keep the excitement out of her voice. Damon smiled a small smile with his back still turned to her. He knew that she felt bad getting expensive gifts from him when she couldn't afford to give him any back (not that he cared,) but he also knew that she not-so-secretly enjoyed getting them as much as she loathed it, which is why he kept buying her things, whether she told him not to or not.

"Relax, I didn't pay a dime for it, I promise," he assured her as he turned around, a silver necklace dangling delicately from his fingers. Damon walked over to Bonnie and turned her around towards the mirror on the door of the closet.

"Oh my gosh, Damon it's beautiful," she gasped as he stretched his arms around her and placed the necklace gently around her neck. She touched the stone as he clasped the chain around her neck, smoothing it til it lay down her chest perfectly. Bonnie noticed there was some sort of engraving on the stone and took a step closer to the mirror to get a better look at it. She let out another small gasp when she realized why the blue stone looked so familiar.

"Is this—?" she asked in disbelief, gently grabbing his hand to look at the ring on his finger. Sure enough, the two pieces of jewelry were the same.

Damon smiled shyly at her. "I've had it for a while. I wanted you to have it."

Bonnie reached down and touched the necklace again. The bright morning sun that shone through the window illuminated the piece, making flecks of blue blend in with her already beautifully green eyes. At that moment, Damon couldn't have been happier. He'd only dreamed the moment would be this perfect, the moment he'd find someone worthy of wearing his family's crest. Of course, back then he's thought it'd have been Katherine, then later Elena, but now more than anything, he was happy he'd waited to give it to Bonnie. It fit her perfectly, as if it were made for her, which he honestly thought it was, with all his heart.

"Damon, I—" Bonnie shook her head, not knowing what to say. She pressed close to him, and cupped his cheek in her hand. They gazed at each other for what seemed like an eternity, letting everything they couldn't express in words come across through tender smiles and the love in their eyes. Bonnie leaned up and kissed him, a small, chaste kiss that still somehow managed to convey everything she was feeling.

Damon had never been so happy in his life. He wished they could just stay like this forever; he had to fight the urge to throw her over his shoulder and whisk her away to some far away island where it would just be them two, where no one could ever hurt her again, where she'd smile at him like that every day.

"Let's go away." He knew it probably sounded silly, but he had to say it. There was always a small chance that'd she'd say yes.

"Huh? Go where? I have school in," she glanced at the alarm clock on the dresser. "now. Ugh, I'm going to be late." But then she stopped and smiled. "Well, technically I'm already late. So five more minutes won't kill me." Bonnie leaned up and kissed him again, this time much more passionately. Damon leaned into her, savoring every sensation of her lips against his, the taste of her tongue, the feel of her fingers on the back of his neck. He tried to memorize every crevice of her, because suddenly, all he could think about was 100 years from now, he wouldn't have this. He wouldn't have **her**. He'd be alone again, and he knew in his heart that even if he fell in love again, she'd never be like his little bird.

Bonnie ended the kiss, unaware of Damon's inner monologue. "Okay, I _really_ have to get to school now," she said with a giggle. Damon sighed, and held out her jacket for her, memorizing every move she made as she slipped it on, committing it all to memory. He kissed her on the cheek as she wrapped her arm around his. They made their way out the room, grabbing her bag on the way out.

"Hey, where were you first period? You missed the midterm review. Lucky for us, Stefan has taken this class—" Elena turned to her boyfriend, "how many times?"

"Fifteen."

"—fifteen times," she finished with a giggle, turning back to her best friend.

"Sorry, I lost track of time this morning."

"I'm sure you did," Elena teased, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Ha, ha. Not like _that_. We were talking. And Damon gave me this," she replied, her voice thick with excitement. Bonnie pointed at her chest.

"Oh my gosh, Bonnie it's beautiful," Elena said as she lifted the necklace into her hand so she could take a better look. Stefan glanced down at it, but didn't really pay it any attention, assuming it was another random piece of jewelry Damon was so fond of buying her.

"Stefan, isn't this your family crest?" Elena asked him, instantly recognizing the logo on the pendant.

At that, Stefan took another look at the necklace, then looked up at Bonnie. "Damon gave that to you?"

Suddenly, Bonnie was nervous. She'd become much closer to the Salvatores since she and Damon began dating, and actually regarded Stefan as something of a brother. She'd assumed the feeling was mutual, but maybe he didn't see her that way, at least not enough that he thought she deserved to wear his family's crest, especially since he hadn't even given Elena anything like that.

But all that fear dissipated as Stefan looked up at her, his face turned up into a wide grin; she suddenly felt silly even thinking the thought. Bonnie could see something touch his eyes, but she couldn't quite place it. It was like he was looking at her, but not actually seeing her.

"What? What is it?" Elena asked, also noticing the look on Stefan's face.

"That necklace was our mother's. She wore it until the day she died; I'm surprised he still has it. Our father gave it to him as the oldest son, to be given to his wife," He looked in Bonnie's eyes and smiled again. "And he gave it to you. I didn't even know he still had it…"

Bonnie beamed and felt her heart swell up in her chest. Damon hadn't mentioned it was his mother's necklace first. It touched her deep in her heart to know that she meant so much to him that he thought her worthy of such a sentimental piece. A part of her was surprised he hadn't offered it to Elena a long time ago in an effort to win her heart. _No, he gave it to __**me**_. It was times like this she wished she could explain to Caroline and Jeremy and anyone else who couldn't understand why she'd chosen to be with Damon. They didn't get to see the sides of him that she did; that's why it didn't matter what they said, because she knew the _real_ Damon, **her** Damon.

"It's really nice, Bon," Elena stated, but her tone, or the expression on her face, for that matter, didn't match her words. _I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed that Stefan hadn't given Elena anything with their crest on it…_ From her body language, Bonnie could tell that Elena was more than a little jealous. _I just hope that she mad that __**Stefan**__ didn't give it to her, and not that __**Damon**__ hadn't given it to her all that time he was chasing her…_ Bonnie instantly felt bad for thinking something like that and quickly pushed the thought out of her brain.

"Thanks," she replied softly. "He didn't even tell me it was your mothe—"

"OHMYGOSH, Bonnie, where were you earlier? Did you forget about the midterm review? Lucky for you, I'm the most awesomest BFF in like, the _universe_! I just spent 10 minutes convincing Mr. Gallagher to email me the PowerPoint slide he used in class so I could forward it to you…" Caroline came barreling towards them, her usually bubbly self spewing her words a mile a minute. She sat down in the seat between Bonnie and Stefan & Elena, not greeting the couple until she was finished her rant.

"The only thing becoming a vampire has done to you is diminish your need to breathe between sentences. Good for you, baaaaaad for the rest of us," Bonnie said with a giggle.

"Oh hush, before I don't send you the PowerPoint!" Caroline teased, causing Stefan to brandish a small smile

"What are you guys doing for lunch? Wanna help me hand out some flyers for the dance Friday? Bonnie is a weak human who needs to eat, but you two can skip, right?"

"Thanks a lot, Care," Bonnie said sarcastically, laughing.

"Sure, we'll be ther—"

"Actually, we can't. You promised me you'd help me with my art project, remember Stefan?"

Stefan looked a bit confused, but said nothing.

"I can help you with that after school, Elena. You know it's like, the only class I'm good at," Caroline giggled offhandedly.

"No, it's okay, Stefan will help me," Elena said quickly, getting up. "C'mon, Stefan, we're going to be late."

Stefan nodded at the two girls and followed his girlfriend.

"Late for what?" Caroline asked after they'd walked away without Elena saying so much as bye. "Neither one of them has class this period…Ohmygosh, was it me? It was me, wasn't it? What did I say?"

"Relax, Care, it wasn't you," Bonnie said, comforting her friend and still looking in the direction the couple had walked off in. "Elena's just…" Honestly, Bonnie didn't know what was wrong with her friend, but she was definitely going to find out. "…in a bad mood. She's just in a bad mood. Don't take it personal."

Caroline sighed in relief. "Okay, that's good. What's wrong with her? Maybe I'll drop her off one of those little burrito things she likes so much from the Grill later on today… Speaking of the Grill, did you see the new bartender they hired? I don't know him, but boy is he haaawt! If I wasn't with Tyler…" Caroline went off on another tangent, Elena's snub all but forgotten.

But Bonnie hadn't forgotten.


	9. Diner Disaster

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

A/N: To be honest with you guys, I'm starting to lose steam for this project. Not because I'm falling out of love with Bamon or the story, because I'm most definitely not. But I had wanted to try a little experiment where people in the comments give me ideas and I try to incorporate them into the stories, but I haven't really been getting any reviews, so I don't know where to go from here. I mean, I have an overall plot in mind, but I want this to appeal to everyone in a sense, or else I'm just rehashing thoughts in my brain Lol, which defeats the purpose. So I'll post this chapter, and you guys tell me what you'd like to see be incorporated into the story and I'll try my best to make it fit! Thanks again :)

"I can't believe you, Damon. You just couldn't keep it together long enough to have lunch, could you?"

"Awww, c'mon, Bon. It was just a little fun. No one even died."

"And that makes it okay? You're a pig."

"How many times I gotta say I'm sorry?"

"Until I believe you."

"Bonnie, you know I hate it when you're mad at me…"

In all actuality, she wasn't mad at him at all, and they both knew it. But this was their game. He does something dickish, but not necessarily big enough to warrant the lecture she gives, but she gives it anyway. They banter back and forth for a while, he grovels, she calls him names. Then she forgives him, and they have mind-blowing make up sex in the damndest of places. It's was like foreplay to the foreplay, and they loved every minute of it.

Earlier that day, Damon had decided that he couldn't sit through another day of eating at the Grill with Bonnie, listening to Caroline's incessant whining at Tyler, while watching Jeremy make googly eyes at his girl, Stefan dote on Elena, and Matt just look generally sad. So he decided to take Bonnie out of town for lunch. He didn't know where they were going exactly, but he knew they were getting the hell outta there.

They ended up in a small diner in Richmond. It wasn't even particularly nice, but Bonnie smiled when she saw it, so he pulled in. As they got out of the car, he made a note to himself to take her more places outside of Mystic Falls; she had definitely been living in that black hole of a town for too long if she found _this_ place nice.

Damon knew the minute they walked in that there would be a problem. On the right side of the diner was what he assumed was a high school baseball team taking up about six booths, waiting for their food. As soon as Bonnie pranced into the restaurant in her usual bubbly manner, all the players stopped talking and just stared. Bonnie grabbed his arm and pulled him towards a booth in the back next to the window, unaware of the fact that the entire team was watching every sway of her perfect hips. But Damon noticed. And it pissed him off. He decided early on that he was going to teach them a lesson. The way he saw it, they deserved it. _I mean, c'mon, _he thought to himself, _I'm standing __**right here.**_

They sat down and begin to look at the menu. "I swear, if you say 'burger and fries,' I'm going to eat someone."

He knew that she ordered the same thing every time they got something to eat, same ol' predictable Bonnie. And frankly, he was looking for a reason to eat someone.

"Actually, the bacon ranch burger looks pretty tasty," she giggled, looking up at him over the menu.

"Nachos it is, then," Damon said, with a small smirk. Bonnie giggled again.

_Dude, I'm telling you, I saw her in that magazine my sister was reading_

_No way, bro, what would she be doing eating here then?_

As angry as he was, he had to admit that it made him feel good to hear them mistake Bonnie for a model, although as far as he was concerned, she looked 10x better than Heidi Klum.

_Her cheap ass boyfriend probably took her here._

And now he was mad again. Did he _look_ like the cheap type? His shoes cost more than all their uniforms combined.

_Nah, did you see that car they drove up in? I'm telling you, that's her._

It amused him that they thought all the money was Bonnie's, like he was some sort of gigolo. But he decided he was cool with that.

"Here you go."

Snapped out of his thoughts, Damon looked up to see a waitress almost slam a bowl of ice cream down in front of Bonnie. "Sorry, there must be a mistake. We haven't ordered yet."

In an instantaneous personality switch, she turned and looked at Damon, her voice syrupy sweet. "I know. It's compliments of the boys over there for your… friend?" Damon was too busy staring daggers at the two little shits on the other side of the diner to notice that the waitress was had not only tried to diss Bonnie, but was now leaning over the table unnecessarily, giving Damon full view down her shirt. It didn't escape Bonnie though.

"No thank you," she replied through gritted teeth, "tell them I don't take things from strange guys, especially when I'm with my _boyfriend._"

Damon heard the edge in her voice, and turned back around, quickly assessing the situation. He looked the waitress in her eyes, and in a low voice, told her _Leave, now. And don't come back until we call you over._ And as an afterthought, _And when you come back, make sure you're shirt is pulled up. Nobody over here is impressed,_ sarcasm dripping from his voice. He knew Bonnie was mad when she didn't even give him her judgey face for compelling someone. He knew she hated when he did that.

"Um, I have to… um, go," the waitress said, a confused look on her face. As she walked away, Bonnie saw her look down at her chest with a puzzled look.

"Bitch," Bonnie mumbled under her breath.

"Ooo, I like it when you talk dirty, Witchy," Damon smirked in an effort to lighten the mood.

"Shut up, I'm starving. Can we order now? With a **different** waitress?"

"Ow, someone's feeling feisty today," he winked at her.

_Dude, look I think they're fighting._

_I __**told**__ you not to send her that ice cream!_

_I hope he gets mad and storms out and leaves her crying so I can go over there and comfort her._

A pause. _You're sick, man._

Ugh, these two morons behind us need to leave **now**, Damon thought to himself as he called a waiter over. "A large platter of nachos please, extra cheese and salsa, mild. A cherry coke, no ice. And a beer, any beer. Make that two beers actually."

"We don't carry alcohol here, sir. Sorry."

Damon sighed. "Of course you don't. Gimme a glass of lemonade then. I can pretend it has vodka in it."

Bonnie laughed out loud, at Damon, and at the expression on the waiter's face. "Someone sounds stressed. Maybe I can help you out," she whispered as Damon felt a warm hand creep up his thigh. Damon turned toward her and snaked his hand around her waist, pulling her closer to him. She giggled low in her throat, giving him a seductive look, and bit the bottom of her lip before she pressed her lips against his.

_Haha, I guess the fight is over._

_Screw you, dude. Screw. You._

That just made Damon laugh and pull Bonnie closer, snuggling into the nape of her neck, peppering her with light kisses that kept her giggling, a sound he never got tired of.

"Um, excuse me, sir? Sorry to bother you, but we've had some complaints from customers about your, um… public displays of affection? We'll have to politely ask you to stop, please."

Bonnie blushed a deep scarlet and Damon turned around with a look on his face that made the waiter take a step back. "What customers?" He said through clenched teeth. "We're the only ones here, besides the assholes in the cleats."

"Damon," Bonnie said softly, placing a hand on his shoulder. She could see that he wasn't in the greatest of moods, and didn't want their 'quiet lunch' to end up on the 5 o'clock news. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. They're just mad that the closest thing they'll get to someone like you is their hand," he said, putting his arm back around her and kissing her deeply, taking both her and the waiter by surprise. Pulling away from her, he looked back at the waiter. "Tell your _customers_ they can **blow me**," he sneered at the waiter.

Bonnie looked on with wide eyes. She wanted to say something, she really did, but as much as she didn't want to admit it, there was a pretty big part of her that actually liked when Damon was a dick. In small doses, of course, but times like this, his Devil-May-Care attitude turned her on, badly. She would never tell him that of course, but she suspected that he sort of already knew.

The waiter looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there at that moment. "Um… uh… I'm sorry sir, but… um, look" he whispered. "I couldn't really give two shits about it, but the manager is a dick and he'll refuse to serve your food if you don't stop, so…"

Damon smirked and pulled a $100 bill out his wallet and slipped it into his apron pocket. "Keep the change," he said, nodding at the empty table. The kid had balls, and Damon liked him for that, when most people would have ran screaming from the steel in the vampire's voice alone. Damon reached for Bonnie and pulled her out of the booth.

"Damon, what are—"

"Screw the nachos, I'm ready to put on a show," he smiled deviously, propping her up on the counter and shoving his tongue down her throat before she even had a chance to process what was happening. Damon slid his hand under her shirt and up her back, pressing against her more provocatively than he ever would've had they been in Mystic Falls.

_Is he serious right now? The guy is a dick, seriously._

_I see someone had their morning cup of Haterade._

_Dude, that was sooo lame._

**_You're_**_ so lame._

"Excuse me, that's it, you have to go, right this minute!" Damon broke the kiss long enough to glance over and see a sweaty man in a dirty apron, whom he assumed was the manager, charging towards them, screaming at the top of his lungs. The sight was so ridiculous that he found himself actually laughing, as in full out, gut- wrenching laughter. Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised; he always had the most fun when he was with Bonnie.

"C'mon, Damon, let's go. I feel a 'homicidal vampire' moment coming on…" Bonnie knew that there were two things that Damon had no patience for: people yelling at him, and people telling him what to do. And right now, that man was doing both, which in no way was good for his health or livelihood when it came to her boyfriend.

Damon smirked and looked at her. "Nah, I'll be good this time. At least, I won't kill him." Before Bonnie could ask him what that meant, Damon walked over to the still panting manager and whispered something in his ear. He then turned around and took Bonnie by the hand, leading her out the diner with all eyes on them. As they left the diner parking lot, Bonnie looked through the windows of the restaurant and the last thing she saw as the car pulled out was the manager on all fours, eating invisible scraps off the floor and attempting to lick his butt.

"Damon! Tell me you did _not_ compel that man to act like a dog!"

"Only for a couple hours," he smirked, looking over at her.

"Damon! He's a person, not a toy for your amusement!"

"He's a _dick_."

"Still doesn't make it okay." And so she continued to lecture him the rest of the way home, with him apologizing, giving puppy dog eyes and snarky comments at all the appropriate times. But on the inside, he was **smoldering**. He lived for this shit. The madder she got, the more turned on he got. By the time they got back to the boardinghouse, he was ready to jump her there on the spot. Which brings them back to to…

_ "Bonnie, you know I hate it when you're mad at me…"_

"Really? Because you pull so much crap, I'm starting to think it turns you on."

And there it was.

"And if it did…?" he asked suggestively, coming up behind her to slowly slip the material of her shirt away from her shoulder. Damon gently placed a kiss there and lightly dragged his lips all the way up past her collarbone to the inside of her neck.

Bonnie moaned in frustration. "Damon… I—mmm— this… this isn't going to make me stop being mad at… at you." She could barely get the words out; all she could focus on was his lips on her, nibbling on her earlobe while his hands found their way under her shirt and up her sides.

"Are you still mad at me?"

"Yes," she said, although she couldn't muster the strength to actually sound mad.

"Mmm, well I guess you're just gonna have to _punish _me, huh?"

"Ahhh…" was all she could manage before he'd turned her around and pressed his lips against hers, somehow simultaneously firm with passion, yet gentle with care. Damon slipped his tongue between her lips and Bonnie felt herself going under…

What seemed like days, but in reality was only hours later, Bonnie woke up in the dark to the sound of the front door. She sat up a bit, still a little disoriented from her nap. "Damon?" she whispered. For an instant, she'd thought that was him leaving.

She felt a strong arm wrap around her waist and instantly felt better. "It's okay, I'm right here," he said softly as he pulled her to him, kissing her lightly on the back of her shoulder.

She smiled a small smile, knowing he could see it in the dark. "I thought you'd left."

"Now why would I do that?"

"Hopefully to get us some food. I'm starving! We never did get to eat…"


	10. First Dance of the Year

A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in looong time, but with school starting, I've been ridiculously busy! But I'm gonna make it up to you guys because I have three new chapters for you, two of them courtesy of requests by **Smallville Lois **in the reviews (don't worry, I'm going to do the third one you requested too, just not yet because I'm not ready for that at this point in the story, but don't worry, it's coming :])! Also, a big thanks goes out to **randomlittleme**, **Crystal1998**, **Vie**, and **Yson**, in addition to everyone else for the consistant reviews and support! :D Enjoy!

The disco ball glittered throughout the gymnasium, the sparkles reflecting off of Bonnie's bright green eyes like emeralds. Damon couldn't keep his eyes off of her, she was just so damn beautiful. Bonnie looked back at her boyfriend, the love in his eyes so evident, it was almost tangible; she had half a mind to reach out and attempt to touch it.

Bonnie almost felt guilty being so happy; there they were, at the first dance of the year, and no one was trying to kill them. It felt… disrespectful, almost, to be having so much fun, like at any moment a bad guy was going to pop from behind the refreshments table to get them. She looked over to her right at Caroline and Tyler, and saw that they too were gazing into each other's eyes and she didn't feel so bad anymore. She then looked to her left and saw Elena in Stefan's embrace with her head on his chest, him looking down at her lovingly even though she couldn't see it.

A small smile spread on Bonnie's face and she looked back at her boyfriend, who was still staring at her, a genuine smile on his lips, not his trademark smirk for once. One look at him and her smile morphed into a full-fledged grin. All her friends were happy and she had the best boyfriend in the world. Bonnie was happier than she'd been for a long time. She laid her head back on Damon's chest and began to sway to the music once again. She knew somewhere behind her, Jeremy was sulking, probably staring daggers into their backs, but she couldn't think about that right now. Tonight was about good memories only.

"Finally satisfied? Can we now get back to the _dancing_ part of the dance?"

Bonnie looked up at him "What do you mean?"

"You've been fretting over everyone else all night like a mother hen. I keep telling you, everyone's fine. We're here for **fun**. So start having some, or I'll start to think I failed as a boyfriend."

Bonnie smiled at him. "Sorry, I'm just—you know what? You're right. Tonight's about fun, so that's what we're going to do."

"Mmm… well I hope the 'fun' doesn't stop at dancing," Damon said, wiggling her eyebrows at him.

"It doesn't have to…"

Damon stopped dancing and looked at her. "Okay, dance over, we're going home," he said quickly, as he began to pull her towards the exit doors before she had time to protest.

Damon had to break his stride as the song ended and a more upbeat tempo started to play, causing kids all around him to begin to disperse in different directions. Caroline appeared in front of them.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" she asked, confused.

Bonnie gave Damon an amused look. "We weren't going anywhere," she said pointedly.

"Actually, we were on our way out. Things to take care of…" he replied vaguely, attempting to step around the blonde vampire.

"You guys can't leave yet, we just got here!"

"Leaving? Who's leaving?" Stefan said, as he strolled up with Elena in tow.

"No one now, I guess…" Damon sighed as he led Bonnie, who was still laughing at him, towards the punch.

Tyler, who'd already been there getting Caroline a drink, began to pour drinks for all of them. "This punch is dead, but lucky for you guys, I can bring it back to life," he said, discreetly pulling a flask out of his jacket pocket and spiking all of their drinks.

"My kind of guy," Damon commented, taking his cup from the hybrid. They drank their drinks in humored silence as they watched Matt approach them with Jeremy not far behind.

"Oh great, here comes Mr. Sunshine," Damon said, the sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Damon, don't start." Bonnie admonished gently.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." But Bonnie noticed that he held onto her just a little bit tighter.

"Hey guys, enjoying the dance?" Matt said cheerfully as he approached the gang.

"Yeah, feels good to not have to worry about dying and stuff. Really puts a damper on the whole night, ya know?" Caroline replied in her usually bubbly way.

"See? I _wasn't _the only person that was thinking that!" Bonnie whispered to Damon.

"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you're still thinking about it the hardest. Just relax and have fun," he said lightly, kissing her on the forehead. Stefan didn't miss Jeremy's eye roll at that.

"Shhh, guys, they're about to say the dedications!"

This was Bonnie's least favorite part of the dances. Mystic Falls high had a tradition that at every dance, they head of the events committee would get up on the microphone and announce the names of people (usually girls) who had 'secret admirers.' Occasionally, you'd get someone bold enough to leave their name, but those rarely ended well. Bonnie never paid much attention to them because frankly, no one ever dedicated a note to her. As long as she could remember, they were always for other girls, including Elena and Caroline. More recently, Stefan had even gotten a couple. Plus, it's kind of hard to enjoy the cheesiness of it all when you have psycho vampires trying to kill you.

"I don't even know why you're so excited. You have a boyfriend, in case you forgot." Tyler said to Caroline, playfully poking her in the arm. Caroline laughed at the small note of jealousy she still heard in his voice, even if he tried to laugh it off.

"I just like it, that's all. It's cute." "Whatever," is all she got in reply.

By the time Bonnie tuned back in, they were already three names in, with the girls who'd already been called walking back from accepting however many notes they'd received.

"_Janice Ludwig, c'mon up…_

_Madison Wright, c'mon up…_

_Bonnie Bennett, c'mon up…"_

Everyone turned and looked at Bonnie, surprise as evident on their faces as she was sure it was on hers. _Whoo-whoo_, Tyler whistled at her, laughing.

"Oooh, Bonnie, you got one! Go get it, go get it!" Caroline insisted, more happy than even Bonnie was.

"Oh, no, that's okay. I don't need it," she said quietly, smiling up at Damon.

"See?" Tyler said to Caroline, causing the group to laugh.

"Oh, hush Tyler!" Turning to Bonnie, she said "Aren't you curious who it's from?" She tried her hardest not to glance over at Jeremy when she said it, even though she knew they were all thinking it. And they were, which is exactly why she didn't wanna go up there. Bonnie would just die if they said Jeremy's name while she was up there, not to mention how Dmaon would react…

"_Bonnie Bennett? C'mon, don't be shy, come get your notes!"_

"Notes! With an 's' on the end, as in more than one! If you don't go up there, I will!" Caroline gushed. Bonnie stared questioningly at Damon.

"Don't look at me. Go get your stuff, I don't care," he replied nonchalantly, causing Bonnie to stare at him a second longer. She wasn't expecting him to be so okay with it. Cautiously, she took a step towards the stage. When she reached the podium, she had to pick her jaw up off the floor.

Under the podium, where the audience couldn't see, was a clear plastic garbage bag filled with notes of all shapes, sizes and colors. There had to be over a hundred in there, easily. Bonnie couldn't imagine who all those notes could be from.

"_Look at this guys, our own Miss Bonnie Bennett has—" _pausing to look at the paper in his hand, _"—427 notes! Trust us, we counted! That's more than all the guys in our school, by the way, so either someone's been double dipping, or Miss Bennett here has more than a few admirers of the female persuasion." _The announcer laughed and winked at Bonnie.

"_Well, don't just stand there, open one!"_

Bonnie carefully opened the bag, and pulled out the first one she saw, a purple one shaped like a star. When she opened it, she instantly recognized the famous Shakespeare sonnet.

_Being your slave, what should I do, but tend upon the hours and times of your desire?_

_I have no precious time at all to spend, nor services to do, till you require.  
Nor dare I chide the world without end hour, whilst I, my sovereign, watch the clock for you,  
Nor think the bitterness of absence sour, when you have bid your servant once adieu;  
Nor dare I question with my jealous thought where you may be, or your affairs suppose,  
But, like a sad slave, stay and think of nought save, where you are, how happy you make those._

_So true a fool is love, that in your will, though you do anything, he thinks no ill._

Bonnie was in shock. She quickly opened another one, and saw yet another love poem, this time one she didn't recognize. She looked up at the announcer, confused, then looked into the crowd at her friends. They all looked as confused as her, expect Caroline, who was on the verge of tears, and Jeremy, who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there at the moment. Bonnie looked back at the announcer. "Did it say who they were from?" she asked shakily, almost afraid to ask.

"_Actually, it is signed. It says 'To my little bird, a poem for every day we've been together. There are no words to describe how you make me feel, but I can try. DS.'" _The announcer looked at her. _"Oooh, who's 'DS?'"_

Bonnie felt the tears welling in her eyes, but she didn't care. "He's my boyfriend, right there," she said, smiling, pointing directly into the crowd at Damon. Everyone turned to look at him and she couldn't help but laugh at his expression. No reason she should be the only one in the spotlight, she thought.

"_Awww, that's so sweet! But boy did he make the rest of us look bad!" _the announcer joked as he handed Bonnie her bag. She accepted and began to make her way towards Damon, all eyes on them. She knew it was cheesy, but she couldn't help it, and as soon as she reached him, Bonnie pulled him into a kiss. She heard the claps and catcalls around them, but she was too happy at that moment to be embarrassed.

When they parted, Damon whispered in Bonnie's ear _I love you, little witch._ Bonnie looked up at him and almost couldn't speak, she was so choked up, but managed a garbled _I love you too, Damon. More than you know. Thank you._

A shrill voice broke them out of their gazes. "OHMYGOSH, THAT WAS SO SWEEEEET!"

The couple turned around and saw Caroline barreling towards them, reaching for the bag of notes. "Look at all of these, he wrote all of these? Ohmygosh…" Everyone laughed at Caroline as she went on, oblivious to the rest of them by that point.

"Oh great, now I'm gonna have to start writing her love letters and crap…" Tyler mumbled. "Thanks a lot man," he said to Damon, playfully punching him in the arm.

"Yeah, man, that was great. How do you think of mushy crap like that?" Matt asked, laughing.

Bonnie noticed Jeremy had disappeared into the crowd.

"Ohmygosh," Caroline said, grabbing Elena's arm and pulling her towards Bonnie, "We have to have a slumber party and read every last one of these, like, tomorrow, since I'm sure Bonnie will wanna spend tonight thanking him…" she added naughtily, winking at Bonnie.

"Haha, okay, slumber party it is. We can eat ice cream and gush about how great our boyfriends are, right Lena?" Bonnie laughed, tuning to the brunette.

"Actually, I promised Jer that'd I'd spend tomorrow with him, just us two. It's been kinda hard for him, ya know?" Elena replied, crossing her arms in front of her.

"Oh, okay," Caroline said, a bit deflated. "Well, have fun. I guess it'll just be me and you," she said cheerfully, turning back to Bonnie.

"Yeah, I guess…" Bonnie said, giving Elena one last look before turning back towards Damon. "I'm gonna throw this bag in the car, I'll be right back, 'k?"

"Don't worry about it, I'll take it back to the house," Stefan intercepted, taking the bag from her hands. "Well played, by the way, brother," he added, smiling at Damon.

"You're leaving?" Tyler asked

"Yeah, Elena said she's hungry, so I'm going to take her back to the house to feed. I still don't like the idea of her being around so many people when she gets hungry."

"Oh, okay, that's true. Well, see you guys later on," Bonnie replied, hugging Stefan, then Elena, not bothering to comment on the fact that they'd all 'eaten' before they'd left for the dance.

Everyone said their goodbyes, and continued to dance after the couple left. The night was fun, but Bonnie still felt uneasy, although she couldn't quite place why. _Or maybe I just don't want to_, she thought to herself, but quickly pushed the thought out of her head. Tonight was a night for **good** memories only, and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin that for her, not even her best friend.


	11. Love Drunk

"Damon, you have to leave. How are we going to gush about our boyfriends with them right here?"

"Says who? It's my house and I don't wanna leave. I wanna stay here and hear all the great things you have to say about me, like how I rock your world," he said naughtily as he pulled her closer. "…because we both know I rock your world…"

Bonnie giggled as he nestled her neck. "Damon… c'mon, you gotta go."

"Or we could just go upstairs and turn off the lights and not answer when Caroline comes over," he whispered, biting her earlobe.

"Too late, I'm already here. No naughty time for you tonight," Caroline said, coming around the corner into the living room, grabbing Bonnie by the hand and yanking her towards the stairs.

"I'm serious, Damon, leave!" Bonnie threw over her shoulder.

"I don't know why you even let her in…" Damon mumbled as Stefan came into the living room, tossing his brother his infamous leather jacket.

"C'mon, stop being so whipped," Stefan smirked, as he walked out the door towards the driveway where Tyler was waiting for them in his car.

"Ohmygosh, these are so sweet! Here, listen to this one: '_Everyday without you is a day without life; I do not but exist until you choose to grace me with your angelic presence._' Who knew Damon had that in him?"

"No, listen to this one. It's my favorite so far: _'I've never had someone love me the way you have; I've loved before, but never like this. So much so, I doubt those before you were truly love…'_" Bonnie swooned.

"Awww, this is so sweet! I know I keep saying that, but it's just so weird to see this side of him, ya know?"

"I know. This is what I've been _trying_ to tell you forever, Care. There are parts of Damon that people rarely get to see. I couldn't explain it, but... here it is," the witch said, gesturing to the hundreds of notes spread across the king sized bed. "I'm pretty sure this is the side of him Stefan fought so hard to preserve, the side of him…" her words died on her lips.

"What? What is it?"

"I… I was going to say… the side that Elena fell in love with."

"Oh… so we're opening _that_ can of worms, huh?"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm dead, not dumb Bonnie. I've noticed how… unenthused, we'll say, that Elena has been every time you talk about Damon. It's kinda like she's jealous, ya know? But I've been trying to push those bad thoughts outta my head. But since you all but said it first…" Caroline elbowed her friend in the side, winking, as she tried to lighten the mood.

"Please, please, please tell me you haven't noticed that," Bonnie replied with a groan. "Because that would mean that I'm not just being a jealous girlfriend like I've been telling myself I have… I don't even wanna _think_ about Damon and Elena going behind my back."

"No! No, no, no! That's not what I was saying at all! I mean, do you _see_ all these notes? No one who wasn't in love would do that. Hell, **I** wouldn't do this, and I totally love Tyler. And even if Elena does still feel… _something_ for Damon, I don't think she'd go behind your back like that. I honestly think she doesn't even realize she's being so transparent about it."

"That doesn't change the fact that she feels _anything_ for him, Care. And she hasn't even attempted to talk to me about it. More importantly, she's been acting real shitty, to be frank."

The vampire gasped. "Bonnie Bennett! When did you get such a potty mouth? I think Damon's rubbing off on you, in addition to rubbing _on_ you…" she winked.

"Well, it's true! Remember when Damon gave me this necklace? She was all pissy about that. But the dance was the last straw. You know I saw Jeremy earlier today? I asked him could he give Elena back that cardigan I borrowed earlier, and he said 'What, am I supposed to carry it around forever til I see her? Don't you live with her?' and I was like 'Well, you're going to see her tonight, I'm not, so stop being a punk and take the sweater!' and he looked at me all confused and stuff and was like 'Why would I be seeing Elena tonight? You know she always spends weekends at the boardinghouse…'"

"Okay, now _I'm_ confused. So she didn't tell him she was coming over…?"

The brunette rolled her eyes at her friend. "You're having a true blonde moment right now, Caroline. Stay with me: **there **_**were**_** no plans to meet Jeremy. **Ever. She _lied_."

Caroline gasped again. "No way! Why would she do that?" Bonnie could see the wheels turning in her friend's head. It's not that she was dumb, she just hated thinking bad things about the people she loved. "Ohmygosh, she said that so she wouldn't have to read all this lovey-dovey crap from Damon!"

"It's about time you hopped on the bandwagon, Care…"

"So where is she now? Stefan's out having guys' night, so where's Elena?"

"Does it matter? The point is, she's not here."

"Wow…" the blonde sighed. "Well this sucks," she said, lying back against the pillows.

"Yeah, welcome to my world," Bonnie said, laying back to join her friend.

"But my question is: why? I mean, she already **had** Damon, why not just be with him?"

"I don't know, the same reason you won't kick Klaus to the curb?"

"Oooo, low blow Bonnie!"

"Sorry! I take it back! That was angry Bonnie talking; nice, best friend Bonnie is back now," she said, laughing.

"I guess I see what you mean though… Doesn't make it any less sucky."

"Tell me about it…"

The entire place stopped when Damon, Stefan, and Tyler walked in. Damon smirked, very much aware of the effect he had on people. Stefan grimaced; he hated being the center of attention, at least most of the time. Tyler, on the other hand, loved it. He was used to being talked about, if for nothing else but for being the mayor's son. But it was never like this before. Being around the Salvatore's was like being a local celebrity. They turned heads everywhere they went, and who could blame them; the way they strode into anyplace they were, all leather jackets and hair gel, made women weak in the knees and guys jealous with envy. Tyler always thought it was just a kind of confidence that came with being a vampire; they all seemed to have it, even Klaus. But he'd been a hybrid for almost a year now, and he didn't think he'd magically acquired that cool gene. Secretly, so secretly he almost couldn't admit it to himself, he hoped that by hanging out with them, some of that would rub off on him. Even if it didn't, at least he always had a couple drinking buddies.

The trio walked over to the bar in the Mystic Grill, where some new guy was behind the counter, and ordered three coke and rums. For Damon, that was just an appetizer until his dinner came, hopefully in the form of a stiff shot of Bourbon or a drunken co-ed.

"Sorry, man," the bartender said. "I can't do that. Those two," he said, gesturing to Stefan and Tyler, "go to my school, so I _know_ they aren't twenty-one."

"Who the hell is this guy? Where's Mut—Matt?" Bonnie would kill him if she'd heard that.

"Relax, relax, I'm here. No one panic," Matt laughed as he came from the stock room with a brand new bottle of Bourbon that he placed on the counter. "The usual?" he asked a smirking Damon.

"Maybe you're not so bad after all," Damon teased.

"Dude, you can't give him the whole bottle. We're gonna get fired," the bartender said.

"Again, who _is _this guy?" Damon frowned. "Get away from me, you're killing my buzz before it's even started."

"Re_lax_, it's okay, he's cool, Mark" Matt laughed again, taking the fifty dollar bill Stefan placed on the counter for the bottle.

"Sorry… I'm not a narc or anything, I swear," Mark replied sheepishly.

"Haha, Mark the Narc. Nice one." Tyler laughed.

"Jeez, dude, chill out before that starts to catch on. I'll never live it down…"

All five guys laughed. "What's so funny?" Jeremy asked, coming around the counter.

"What are **you** doing here?" Damon asked, confused.

"I _work_ here. You're pretty dumb for someone so old."

"I'm gonna let that one slide and not snap your neck because then you wouldn't be able to answer my question: What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be having Gilbert Bonding Time with Elena, the patron saint of all things boring?"

Jeremy stopped and turned to him. "Why does everyone keep asking me that? What exactly is it that me and Elena are supposed to be doing again? Is she planning an apparently not-so-surprise party for me or something?"

Damon furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you stoned? Elena said you had some stupid thing planned tonight. I don't know the details, don't really care either."

"Oh yeah," Tyler chimed in. "At the dance, she said she couldn't go with Caroline and Bonnie because she had something to do with you."

"I have to work on Saturday nights. Elena knows that," Jeremy replied, worry starting to creep into his voice.

Stefan could see where this was going. He didn't know why Elena would lie to everyone, especially him, but he'd noticed that she'd been acting differently these past few weeks. He made a mental note to talk to her about it when they got home, but he thought the last thing he needed was for all eyes to be on her, at least until he talked to her first. With that, he cracked open the untouched bottle of Bourbon. "Okay," he interrupted, knowing Damon would lose all interest once the alcohol started pouring, "let's drink! It is Saturday night, after all. Matt, six shot glasses, please."

"Best idea I've heard all night," Damon smiled, his attention predictably turned to the bottle in his brother's hand.

"I really shouldn't…" Mark protested, but relented at the sight of the other guys staring at him like he'd lost his mind. Who turned down shots?

Jeremy took a shot, then went to clock in before he was late. The rest of the night went on without a hitch, he, Matt, and Mark occasionally taking a shot when the manager wasn't looking. But he couldn't quite shake the thought of his sister out of the back of his mind, and made a reminder in his phone to call her later, in case he was too drunk by the end of his shift to remember on his own…

Damon, Stefan, and Tyler stumbled into the manor around 3am that evening. Actually, the Salvatores stumbled; Tyler had to be carried in by the two. After the Grill closed at 1am, the trio decided to head to the next town over to a club Tyler wondered how Damon knew so well. The three drank and danced with girls barely legal until that club also closed, an unspoken agreement that they wouldn't tell their girlfriends about it; after all, what's guys' night out without a few things the girls wouldn't approve of? So here they were, Damon and Stefan drunk, Tyler passed out after trying to keep up with the two vampires who had been drinking since night clubs were invented.

"Oh shit," Damon cursed as they bumped into one of the end tables, knocking over a lamp that was older than them. Stefan giggled like a little kid at his brother's lack of coordination, earning him a glare from the older Salvatore.

"Damon? Is that you?" a sleep voice said softly from the upstairs hallway.

"Shit," he repeated, realizing he must've woken the girls up. The last thing he needed was for Bonnie to see him plastered like this.

"Yes, Bonnie, it's us. But don't come downstairs," Stefan offered.

"Yeah, 'cuz _that's_ gonna work, Stefan…" Damon laughed at his brother's drunkenness.

"What? Why not, what's wrong? I'm coming downstairs."

"Thanks a lot, Stefan. You know she worries and frowns her forehead up second only to you. That was like telling a bee not to come to honey…"

"I believe _you_ were the one who knocked over the lamp, brother."

"Oh, shut it."

"Oh my gosh, what happened to Tyler?"

"Tyler, what's wrong with him?" a shill voice came from upstairs, and in an instant, Caroline was in the room standing next to Bonnie.

"Great, the whole gang is up. So much for 'sneaking in,' which was _your_ plan, by the way, Stefan."

"Nothing is wrong with Tyler, he's just drunk," Stefan giggled again, ignoring his brother's barbs.

Caroline sighed with relief, then began giggling too. "Omg, you two are totally wasted too!"

"No shit, Sherlock. And why the hell are we still holding Jacob here anyways?" Damon said, dumping Tyler onto the love seat. From there, he made his way over to Bonnie.

"Ya know what they say about drunk sex, don't you?" he said, wiggling his eyebrows at his witch.

"Eww, eww, and double eww. I'm taking Tyler upstairs. Put some music on or something. No one wants to here Bonnie all night," Caroline said, hoisting Tyler over her shoulder in a way she couldn't do when she was alive.

"What's **that** supposed to mean?"

"You're loud, Bonnie, plain and simple!" Caroline called over the railing from upstairs.

Bonnie gasped in shock and turned to Damon. "Am I really that loud?"

Damon started kissing on her neck. "Don't worry, I like when you're loud."

Bonnie's face flushed in embarrassment as Stefan walked past them chuckling to himself. "You are pretty loud though…"

The last thing Stefan heard before he passed out on his bed, still in his clothes, was Bonnie's voice, asking his brother why he'd never told her how loud she was. In his drunken state of mind, he was surprised to notice how nice of a sound that was to him, or how he hadn't thought of Elena once since he'd gotten home…

A/N: And the plot thickens!... Lol!


	12. Go Timberwolves!

A/N: I suggest you listen to 'End of Time' by Beyonce, 'Put Your Graffiti On Me' by Kat Graham (C'mon, you should've ALL heard _that_ by now! Lol) and 'You Drive Me Crazy' by Britney Spears before you read this, since those are the songs that are used in this chapter. Enjoy!

It was crisp Friday night in Mystic Falls, and everybody knew what that meant; football. The Timberwolves were into their third game of the season, 3-0. But before the game could start, the _real_ reason half the teenage boys came to the games had to happen: the cheerleaders.

Behind the gym, the girls were stretching, getting ready to go onto the field. Although their boyfriends had forgoed re-joining the football team again, Caroline and Elena thought it was a great idea when Bonnie suggested they go back into cheerleading for their last year in high school. Bonnie was finally happy in her life, and thought I was time to get back to the normal things they were doing before vampires and werewolves became an everyday occurrence in their lives. She was more than a bit surprised when Damon actually supported her idea, seeing as to how he usually opposed anything that cut into his time with his little witch; she suspected he just wanted to see her flaunting around in her skimpy cheerleading uniform more than an actually caring if she re-joined the team or not.

As the girls stretched with their friends, they heard the pep band starting up, meaning that their cue was coming up. All the girls hopped off the grass and began getting into line. Eventually, the band's music morphed from the school's chant to the intro beat to Beyonce's 'End of Time.' Caroline had made the mix tape herself, as well as choreographed the routine, although she couldn't quite understand why Bonnie and Elena burst into uncontrollable laughter when she'd told them she'd put 'You Drive Me Crazy' by Britney Spears on the mix tape.

Thinking about Elena, Bonnie looked over at the brunette whom she still considered one of her best friends. Things had been awkward between the two, to say the least, but Elena hadn't commented on it. And if she didn't, then Bonnie wasn't going to either, at least until **she** was ready. She knew she would have to broach the subject _eventually_, but right now she just wasn't in the mood to take it there. _But I'll have to do it soon_, Bonnie thought to herself, but didn't have time to think about it any further because it was time to put on a show.

Meanwhile, Damon, Stefan, Tyler, and Matt were making their ways into the stands. Even though the three highschoolers had decided to forgo re-joining the football team, they still came out to support their friends and girlfriends.

"Here we go," Tyler said excitedly, as the girls began to run across the field.

"Man, I love these things," Matt commented with a grin. The Mystic Falls Cheerleading team where known for for putting on slightly raunchy, and surely memorable routines, courtesy of slightly raunchy, and surely memorable captains like Caroline Forbes.

"Yeah, me too," Tyler replied. "Care told me she convinced Bonnie to do one of her infamous splits." The two teenagers looked at each other with conspiring looks.

"Infamous splits? What infamous splits?" Damon leaned forward and inquired, not even trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"Dude, you've never seen Bonnie at a game, have you? Man, those splits have haunted my dreams many nights." Tyler laughed at the expression on Damon's face.

"Eww, dude, that's disgusting. That's like our sister," Matt said, punching Tyler in the arm.

"What? All I'm saying is that, as a teenager, I had dreams about cheerleaders, as all teenagers do. One of those cheerleaders happened to be Bonnie. Well, not so much Bonnie, as her legs…"

Before he could finish the sentence, Damon was throwing his Timberwolves sign at Tyler's head, Stefan barely having time to duck. Tyler laughed and dodged it easily.

"Hey, both of you quit it, it's about to start." Matt yelled over the chanting and various howls, the Timberwolves' official chant.

"Ah-wooooooo!" Tyler howled with the rest of the crowd as the mascot came out to amp the crowd up before the cheer squad came out.

"Hey, Wolfy, you're a little too good at that, don't you think?" Now it was Damon's turn to laugh at Tyler's expression.

As Bonnie ran onto the field behind Caroline with Elena close behind, she felt like she was fifteen again, carefree before she'd had so much stress in her life. Her eyes immediately drifted to the stands where she saw Damon, along with the rest of her friends. She waved at them, smiling widely. She wondered what Damon was going to think of her routine, since she hadn't told him about the almost too-sexy performance Caroline had set up. She was pretty sure he would've found a way to keep her from doing it if she had.

"Ready, girls?" Caroline yelled over the crowd.

"Yeah, let's do this," Elena smiled, looking like her old self for the first time in what seemed like centuries to Bonnie.

"Remember, it's senior year, so let's go out with a bang!"

"Oh, so that's what you tell yourself to justify this stripper ass routine?"

"Bonnie, what did I tell you about that potty mouth?" Caroline laughed. Bonnie opened her mouth to reply, but it was time to begin.

_Baby, come on, get up on it;  
Show me that you really want it.  
I wanna be the one to love you, baby let's go._

_I wanna provide this loving that you're giving,  
I ain't frontin' in this love;_

_Can you let me love you from your head to toe?_

Bonnie twisted and popped at all the right times, giving Beyonce herself a run for her money. The sight of Damon's eyebrows practically in his hairline made Bonnie dance even harder. She knew he'd never seen her cheer before, and enjoyed surprising him.

The song suddenly mixed into 'Put Your Graffiti On Me' and Bonnie made a note to commend Caroline on her superb mixing skills. Bonnie watched as Caroline rocked her hips to the beat; she knew how much she loved this song. Just as suddenly, 'PYGOM' morphed into 'You Drive Me Crazy.' This was Elena's time to shine; she had insisted on leading this part of the routine.

…_the room is spinning…_

Elena turned in a graceful pirouette…

…_but I can't feel the ground…_

…and dropped at the end of the beat, with Elena and Caroline there to catch her and pull her back up as she stepped gracefully back into step. The crowd started clapping and Bonnie could see Stefan's smile from the field.

_Here I go…_, Bonnie thought as the music went on. It was her turn to take lead. She watched as all the girls started to slowly form a circle around her.

'…_Stop!' _Britney Spears yelled through the speakers, and all the cheerleaders froze with Bonnie in the middle of the girls.

_You drive me crazy, baby…_

The breakdown came on and Bonnie began dancing like her life depended on it, knowing all eyes were on her. The music again changed, turning back into 'End of Time.'

_Boy, come to me… Let me turn your rain into sun…_

_You don't have to worry baby, I promise I'll set your heart free…_

Even though Bonnie knew it was coming, she still felt nervous when she jumped into the air and instead of landing back on the ground, landed in Caroline and Elena's arms, who then hoisted her into the air and spun her around while the rest of the team danced around. Bonnie saw the faces of her friends, as well as various other faces in the crowd, all smiles and laughter as they watched Bonnie shake her pompoms in the air like some sort of cheerleading princess.

_Okay,_ she thought, _let's go out with a BANG!..._

The music changed one last time, back to 'PYGOM.'

…_Tag me!… _

That was Bonnie's cue. Standing in her friends' vampire-strong hands, Bonnie flipped into the air and closed her eyes, praying to every God she could think of that they caught her and didn't drop her. As soon as she felt their arms around her waist, she let out a breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. Without missing a step, she begin to run towards the front of the field, slightly in front of the other dancing girls. Bonnie had to time it just right so that she'd end up in front of the team at just the right moment…

And as the last '_Tag me!' _blared from the speakers, Bonnie gave everyone what they'd been waiting for. She pushed a tiny bit more speed into her run and sprinted right into a front flip, landing in a split instead of on her feet. The crowd went wild, and the girls were shaking their pompoms behind Bonnie, red and white confetti littering the field as the mascot began to run the field and the pep band began to play the school anthem once again. Various chants and howls came from the stands and Bonnie could see her friends standing up, clapping for her; especially Damon, whose smile was the largest of the group's.

Sweaty and more than a little out of breath, Bonnie ran back to the rear of the gym with the rest of the cheer team. To her surprise, the gang was there to meet them.

"Girls, wasn't that great? I had so much f—Tyler!" Caroline exclaimed as she jumped on her boyfriend. "What are you guys doing back here?"

"We came to tell you what a great job you did," Tyler said, smiling.

"Yeah, who knew my little witch had this whole other side to her?" Damon said suggestively as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Eww, no, hands off. Unlike you guys, I actually break a sweat now and then," Bonnie giggled.

"Well, with what I have planned for you later, you'll be sweating anyway, so consider this a head start," Damon whispered into her ear seductively. "Oh, and keep the uniform on," he added, nipping the bottom of Bonnie's ear, sending a chill down her spine. She bit her bottom lip, and stretched up until she was near his own ear.

"Be outside the locker rooms in five."


	13. Bloody Soul

Bonnie shivered as the breeze from the open window tickled her bare skin.

"Want me to shut the window?" Damon asked in a sleepy voice.

"No, it's okay, it feels good," Bonnie answered, too spent herself to explain to him how delicious the cool air felt against her skin in contrast to the heat of his body in contact with hers.

Damon lay between her legs, his back to her chest, the sheets tangled around them like vines. He lazily stroked her thigh while she ran her fingers through his curls, lost in thought.

They like that, in post coital bliss, until Damon let out a groan.

"What's wrong?"

"It's almost morning," he replied sadly. "That means that you're going to leave me soon," he added, almost inaudibly.

"Damon,"

"Hmm?"

"It's Saturday."

Damon turned around with an agility that only vampirism could bring. He smiled broadly at her.

"Oh yeah, it is, isn't it?" His smile automatically turned devilish. "So that means that I don't have to worry about wearing you out," he said, as he began to kiss Bonnie's neck.

"Hold on, I _would_ like to be able to walk tomorrow, Damon!" she giggled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her last words disappearing into a moan.

She felt Damon smile into her neck. "Walking is overrated."

Damon began to kiss down her collarbone towards her already exposed breasts. He nipped at her, smirking when she let out a high pitched squeal and a giggle. Damon loved that, the way she always giggled when they got intimate. He found it so damn sexy; it set the predator off in him, made him want to simply _devour_ her.

Bonnie gasped, unable to breathe as Damon lowered himself over her. She knew what was coming next, and the anticipation always killed her. She closed her eyes and lifted her hips when she felt Damon press into her, then… nothing. Bonnie looked down and saw crisp, blue eyes shining at her in the early dawn light.

"That's not funny, Damon!" she whined. She hated the way she sounded in her own ears, like a fiend, but she didn't want to play games; right now, she wanted to get down to business.

She heard Damon chuckle low in his throat. "As you wish, little witch." And before the last word was out his mouth, Bonnie felt him enter her. Just as she let out the breath she hadn't realized she was still holding, she felt… nothing, again.

"Damon!"

"Shhh, you're going to wake Mother and Father up," he laughed, referring to his brother and his girlfriend. He could barely contain himself; he knew it was wrong, but her face was so priceless. Plus, it was satisfying to see his stuck up little witch come off her high horse every now and then and _beg_ for it.

"Damon…" Bonnie whined again, pulling him down closer to her.

"What do you want?" he whispered in her ear seductively.

"Don't do this, Damon," Bonnie whispered back, suddenly out of breath.

"Ask and you shall receive," the vampire said, enjoying the feeling of her trembling beneath him.

"Damon, please…"

"Please _what?_" He could hear her growl in frustration low in her throat.

"Please, Damon…" she whispered, her breath tickling his neck. "Please… make love to me?"

"As you wish…" he repeated, sinking himself fully into the witch, almost losing it when he felt her melt under him. They moved like that for what seemed like hours, rocking in perfect synchrony until they couldn't distinguish where one ended and the other began. Damon briefly felt a sense of pride in her sexual expertise, seeing as to how he was her first and taught her everything she knew.

_She's __**mine**__, _he thought as he felt her begin to climax. Between the feeling of her surrounding him and her sweet voice repeatedly moaning his name in his ear, telling him how much she needed him and how good he felt… Damon almost lost it. He felt his fangs begin to descend and lowered his head to begin sucking on her neck. When he felt her about to come for the second time, he gently slid his fangs into her neck.

This was the part that Bonnie told no one about, not even Caroline, who she was sure would understand, and even if she couldn't, would try. Bonnie knew what was coming when he began suckling her neck, the tips of his fangs brushing against the delicate skin of her neck. She knew it, and she _anticipated _it. She couldn't explain to anyone, sometimes not even herself, why she first asked him to do it, but she's never regretted it. It still hurt, but in a delectable, indescribable way. Not that sex wasn't great without it; they didn't even do it every time they had sex, but it was like a drug that made it ten times better when they did. Bonnie never felt closer to Damon than she did when they were like this.

Bonnie began to feel lightheaded, and tilted her head back because she knew the next step. Like one body, Damon lifted his wrist to Bonnie's mouth at the same time she leaned her head back. Bonnie took his wrist into her mouth, enjoying the taste of his blood going down her throat. It still tasted like dirty pennies, it was still blood after all, but she hardly noticed that anymore. The best part was still to come.

Damon couldn't explain this part with words if he tried. The first time, he'd thought he was high off of Bonnie's blood, the elixir of the witch's life like heroin, addictive and powerful. As soon as he swallowed, he felt something inside him pull, then… **merge** with her, that was the best way he could describe it. Then the memories came. They weren't images, sounds, smells… but they were all of that. The sadness she felt from her first heartbreak, the anger she felt when she realized that some people judged her not by her actions, but by her skin color; the feeling of inadequacy she felt when she found out that Abby had raised another child, the surprise she felt when she finally admitted to herself that she was in love with Damon Salvatore. It was something deep inside of him syncing with something in her; he could feel the heat of the magic running through his icy cold veins. He briefly wondered what kind of spell she'd put on him, but quickly decided that he didn't really care.

While he made love to her, he honestly could think of nothing else but _her._ Body parts entangled, Damon matched her move for move, almost as if they shared one mind.

The best way Bonnie could describe it was that, for that brief moment in time, they shared a _soul_. This was the thing with Damon that she could not explain, the love she felt for him that transcended everything they'd been through, every way they'd hurt each other. **This** was the love that allowed her to forgive him fully; she saw things in him that she was sure he hadn't even realized in himself. She could feel the disappointment he felt every time his father chose Stefan over him, the anger he felt when he extended himself, yet got his heart broken into a million pieces every time; the confusion he felt whenever he truly thought he was doing something out of love, but just ended up with everyone hating him, and the immense love he'd felt when Bonnie had finally chosen _him_ first.

Damon's blood made Bonnie feel like she was on another plane; she could feel all the darkness drain out of him and back out of her with nothing but love. This cycle, it was weird, but it was _theirs,_ and it felt nothing but natural.

It was a thrilling experience, almost morbid, feeling the life drain out of her, yet simultaneously feeling his blood restoring her. All this, coupled with mind-blowing sex, made Bonnie feel like she was about to explode, sensory overload.

Damon felt Bonnie contracting under him, felt the energy pouring out of her, seeping right though him, and pulled his fangs out of her. He found his own release shortly after, enjoying the feeling of Bonnie still moaning and writhing under him. He began lazily kissing her all over her collarbone, still lodged inside of her. The sound of her softly still chanting his name mixed with his breathy kisses made him instantly hard, the insatiable vampire wanting to do it all over again. And he probably would have tried, too, had there not been a loud banging on the front door.


	14. Mommy Issues

Both Damon and Bonnie were pulled out of their post coital trance by a loud pounding at the front door.

Damon glanced up at the clock. 5:47. _In the morning_.

"Who the **fuck**is that?" Damon spat, his mood instantly ruined. He got up, separating himself from Bonnie, which made him all the madder. Pulling on a pair of discarded jeans from earlier, no boxers, he made his way to the door.

"Wait," Bonnie whispered, wary. "Anything at the door at this time can't be good. I'm coming with you," she said, pulling the sheet around her as she got out the bed.

"Exactly, which is why you're staying here," he said, the finality in his voice leaving little to argue about. As soon as he walked out the room, closing the door behind him, Bonnie hopped out the bed and frantically began dressing. She could hear the banging on the door getting louder and louder, and she began to worry. There was no way this could end well.

From the hallway, Damon could hear Stefan talking in hushed tones to Elena, with him exiting his room an instant later. _Stay here_, he threw over his shoulder, and Damon could see Elena looking out the doorway, her brown doe eyes filled with worry.

"Who could that be this time of morning?" Stefan mused as they galloped down the stairs towards the door.

"I don't know, but whoever the hell it is must have a death wish," Damon growled and, seeing the disheveled state of his brother, Stefan could guess the source of his frustrations with the interruption.

Damon made it to the door first and swung it open suddenly, the banger's arm still up in mid- knock. Prepared to rip whoever it was a new one, Damon stopped short when he saw that the person was none other than Abby Bennett.

Stefan took in her distressed expression and was the first to break the silence. "Abby, what's wrong? What are you doing here?"

"Is Bonnie here?" the former witch asked, her voice raw from what must have been crying. She pushed past the brothers, manners temporarily forgotten. "I went by the house first, but no one was home, so then I went by my mother's house, but it was empty there too, and I called her phone, but she didn't answer and now I'm worried about her too." It all came out in one, long ramble, the fear obvious in her voice.

"Maybe she didn't answer the phone because it's _six o'clock in the godamn morning!_" Damon spat, the irritation in his voice almost palpable.

Stefan, always the voice of reason, said "Relax, Bonnie's fine. Yes, she's here. But what do you mean you're worried about her _too_? Who else is in trouble?"

Abby breathed a sigh of relief at the revelation that her daughter was safe. "Bonnie's safe, good. Now I just need to fi—"

"Abby? What are you doing here?" Everyone looked up at Bonnie coming down the stairs, Elena, also fully dressed now, not far behind her.

"Bonnie, I need you. I'm sorry about the time, but I just started driving, I hadn't realized the time til I actually got here. It's Jamie, he's missing."

Bonnie's face was unreadable. "When was the last time you saw him?"

"Night before last. He said he was going to a party with friends. When he didn't show up that night, I figured he was just having a great time. But when he didn't show up all yesterday, I got worried."

"Sounds like a job for Liz, not Bonnie," Damon said flatly, handing a glass of bourbon to his brother and pouring one for himself.

"No, it has to be supernatural. He wouldn't just not come home like that."

"I agree with you that he might be in danger, but there's no guarantee that it was supernatural," Stefan conceded. "Where's his cell?"

"I don't know, it's been going straight to voicemail, so I'm assuming it's dead. Which is scarier; where would he go where he couldn't charge his phone?"

"So you want me to do a locator spell?" Bonnie said slowly. Damon could hear something… _off_ in her voice, but he couldn't quite place it. He suddenly felt very protective of his little witch and walked over to stand next to her.

"Could you, please? I'm just so worried about him," Abby said, almost in tears. Bonnie's eyes lingered on her mother for a minute before she nodded and walked out the room. "I need a candle," she said, her voice flat. Damon followed her, confused.

"Hey," he whispered, grabbing her by the crook of her arm gently, "you okay? You seemed kind of out of it in there."

"I'm fine, just tired."

"Bonnie…" he said, the tone of his voice indicating that he knew her better than that and that he knew that she was lying.

Bonnie looked up at him, eye to eye, and he felt like he would crumble into a million pieces. There was such a sadness in her eyes that he could do nothing but pull her to him and hold her tightly, almost as if he could squeeze the pain out of her. He felt her arms wrap around him and hold him back even tighter. She didn't have to say anything for him to put two and two together that whatever it was that hurt her had something to do with Abby, and that made him **angry**.

"Bonnie, did you find the ca—oh," Elena said, coming into the foyer, interrupting the moment. "Sorry," she said quietly, turning back around. Bonnie untangled herself from Damon, grabbed a candle out of the draw by the closet, and followed Elena back into the living room, Damon in tow.

"Okay, let's get this over with," Bonnie mumbled, her face unable to hide her myriad emotions.

"Thank you," Abby said quietly, sensing that something had just happened, but not sure what.

Bonnie set the candle on the table, and it instantly lit. Bonnie just stared into the flame, and for a second, nothing happened.

"Don't you need something of his, or a picture or something?" Abby asked, pulling a picture of him out of her wallet. Bonnie glanced down at the picture and replied with a brisk "no." She returned her gaze to the flame for a few seconds, and then proceeded to close her eyes, but it was obvious that she was seeing something.

Abby was distraught, but she still could appreciate how vastly her daughter's powers had grown. Even her mother had needed something of the person's in every locater spell she'd seen her do, and she was the most powerful witch Abby'd ever met. But here was her daughter, not even old enough to drink, and with little to no magical guidance, doing spells with skills that rivaled Emily's. Abby felt a small sense of pride that she had bought such a beautiful, powerful creature into this world.

"I see him," Bonnie said suddenly. "He's… with a girl?" she said, sounding just as surprised as the rest of them looked.

"Who? Is he okay?" Abby asked, confused.

"I'd bet money that he was fine, seeing as to how they're making out," she said, opening her eyes and looking at the older Bennett.

"Well way to go, Jamie," Damon muttered sarcastically. "At least _someone_'s getting laid this morning," he said, pouring himself another drink.

"I… I don't understand," Abby stuttered. "Why would he just leave without saying anything?"

"Doesn't feel very good, does it?" Bonnie said pointedly, her jade eyes boring into Abby before the flame flickered out. Bonnie turned on her heels and proceeded to throw out the now melted candle away, not bothering to spare her mother another look.

"Bonnie," Abby started, getting ready to follow her daughter.

"**Don't**." Damon said, his voice like steel.

Something in his voice made Abby turn around. "What do you care anyway? Last time I checked, you didn't give a damn about my daughter."

"Funny, last time _I _checked, you didn't give a damn about her either!" Damon snarled, the black veins around his eyes starting to show.

"Stop it, both of you," Bonnie said, coming back into the room. "It's too early for this," she noted, as the early morning sun started to shine through the windows. She turned towards her mother. "So what are you going to do now?"

"I don't know; I guess the only thing I _can_ do is go home and hope he comes back. Than—" But Bonnie was already on her way up the stairs.

"Wrong answer." Damon said coldly as he followed his girlfriend up the stairs.

Left standing there, Elena felt awkward, like her and Stefan were intruding on something terribly private. She felt as if she should say something to fill the pregnant silence. "Um, well… uh, I'm gonna… get something to eat. Would you like something, Abby?"

"Actually, blood would real nice right about now," Abby said quietly. "With a shot of something strong," she added. Stefan smiled a little, pouring her a shot of gin.

"Here you go," Elena said, coming back balancing three glasses of blood, a feat she never would have mastered when she was human.

"Thanks," Abby muttered. After taking a sip, "Do you guys know what's wrong with Bonnie? That wasn't just early morning crankiness."

Even though she could admit that they weren't as close as they once were, Elena had known Bonnie long enough to know that it probably was _Abby _herself. From the look on his face, she figured Stefan had figured the same thing. Apparently, Abby had too.

"Does she really hate me that much?" she asked, almost inaudibly.

"I'm sure she doesn't hate you, she's just still… raw. A lot has happened in between, but you have to remember, it wasn't that long ago that you came back into her life."

"And left again," Elena added. She knew it was mean, but it would true. Two sets of eyes landed on her, and Elena suddenly felt like she'd crossed some line. "I'm going to check on Bonnie," she said, quickly making her way up the staircase.

Upstairs, Bonnie closed the door behind her and flopped on the bed. A second later, Damon came in and sat next to her.

"Bonnie, sweety?" he said softly, brushing her hair out of her face.

"I just want to go back to bed, Damon," she said in a low voice. "She's leaving, and… I just want to go back to bed," the witch repeated.

"Okay," was all Damon said, lightly kissing her on the cheek. He started to get up, then turned back to her. "I'm sorry about earlier. I just… I hate seeing you hurt. But that's still your mother. I'm sorry," he said again.

Bonnie turned over and looked at him. "It's okay, I'm not mad at you, not really." She took his hand and held it to her heart. "I still have you." She paused. "Don't leave, please?"

Damon didn't know if she meant 'don't leave the room,' or not to leave her at all, but it didn't matter. The look on her face made him want to die for the second time that night. "I won't," he whispered. "I promise."

Bonnie sat up and climbed into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. Damon cradled her there, her face in his neck. He could feel the tears rolling down his chest, and it was then that he remembered he still had no shirt on. He held her tighter, rubbing her back, until her breathing slowed down. Damon kissed her forehead, brushing her hair behind her ears. "Shhh," he cooed in her ear. "It'll be okay, little bird. You'll _always_ have me. Always."

"I love you, Damon" she whispered hoarsely.

"I love you too, little bird."

They lay like that for a while, until there was a quiet knock on the door. "Bonnie?" Elena whispered. "Bonnie, it's me, Elena."

Damon rolled his eyes, because _obviously_ it was Elena. He walked to the door and opened it. "Bonnie's sleep, Elena."

"Oh, okay. Sorry. How's she doing?"

"How do you think? She's pretty messed up," he said as he closed the door behind him, stepping into the hallway with Elena. "Is Abby still here?"

"Yeah, she's downstairs talking to Stefan."

"Great," he said sarcastically, making his way down the staircase, Elena behind him.

Downstairs, Stefan was asking Abby what'd she been up to since the last time they'd seen each other, in an effort to lighten the mood.

"To be honest, I've just been trying to get a hold of this vampire thing. It's much harder than you guys make it look," she said with a small smile.

"Hey, I never said it was easy. I'm _still_ struggling, and I've been at this much longer than you."

Damon came around the corner, making a beeline for the bar. "Dammit," he said as he poured himself a glass.

"What?" Elena asked, pouring one herself, which surprised Stefan.

"I **still** forgot to put a shirt on." He smirked, "not that I'm not aware how much you're all enjoying the sight."

Stefan rolled his eyes. "Yes, my bare-chested brother is the highlight of my days," he said flatly.

Elena laughed. "Yeah, you have exactly _one_ fan in this house, and it isn't anyone in this room," she said as she strode over towards her boyfriend.

"Wait, what?" Abby asked. Turning to Damon, "you and… Bonnie?"

Elena's eyes dilated to the size of saucers. "Oops…" she said softly, looking at Damon. The whole room grew still.

Damon paused. "Oh yeah, I forgot that you were late to this party," he said, quickly regaining his bravado. "Yeah, me and Bonnie."

"Since when?" Abby asked, obviously shocked.

Damon thought about it. "About… a year and a half now? Wow, time flies," he said, more to himself than Abby, turning to pour himself another drink.

"…how? I thought you two hated each other?"

"Things change, Abby," was all Damon said as he strode back up the stairs.

Abby looked absolutely dumbfounded as she looked at Stefan and Elena. "I… I have to go," she said absentmindedly as she picked up her coat and headed towards the door.

"Do me a favor and call Bonnie later?" Stefan said as he walked her to the door.

Abby furrowed her brows in confusion. "Why? I think I'd be the last person she'd want to talk to right now."

"You'd be surprised. Plus, I'm sure you and her have a lot to talk about now." Stefan took a step closer to her. "And I have it on good authority that she misses her mother," he said quietly.

Abby looked at him for a moment. "Thanks," she said as she put her coat on and gave Elena a small wave before she turned and walked out the door.

Stefan closed the door and turned around, leading Elena up the stairs towards their room. "That was nice of you," Elena mentioned as they ascended the stairs.

"Well, I figure _someone _has to be on her side."

Elena smiled up at her boyfriend, the most selfless guy she knew. As they passed Bonnie and Damon's room, Stefan said _Goodnight, brother_, knowing that he could hear. Right before they closed their door, Elena thought she'd heard the faintest _Goodnight_, confirmed a moment later by Stefan's small smile.


	15. Green Eyed Monster

A/N: Sorry it's so long, but shit is about to get real! :P

Disclaimer: I own nothing _Vampire Diaries_ related.

Bonnie woke up feeling like shit.

Everything from only a few hours earlier came rushing back to her the moment she opened her eyes. As much as she tried to not think about it, Bonnie couldn't get Abby's visit out of her mind. All she could imagine was Abby pulling that picture of Jamie out of her wallet. Bonnie didn't think that Abby had _ever_ had a picture of her in her wallet, yet she carried his around as if she was truly his mother. Scratch that, she _did_ feel as if she was truly his mother —probably the only mother he'd ever known— which was more of a mother than she'd been to Bonnie.

Bonnie decided that moping around wasn't going to get her anywhere, so she slowly dragged her way to the shower, letting out a groan of relief as the scalding hot water washed away all her anxieties. Bonnie came out that shower feeling like a brand new woman, smiling to herself with pride that she'd managed to shake that funk so easily.

"Glad to see someone's feeling better," a deep voice said from behind her. Bonnie didn't have to turn around to know it was her boyfriend. It didn't even surprise her anymore, the way he managed to sneak up on her without making a sound.

"Yeah, I decided that feeling blue wasn't going to help anything, so now I'm going to be the opposite," she said in a cheery voice, as she slipped into a pair of lacy pink underwear.

Damon looked at her cautiously. "Are you sure? Because you don't have to pretend to be okay if you're not. No one expects you to. You're welcome to feel as _blue_ as you need to."

"Nope, I'm good. Did you know if you make yourself smile enough, you can trick your body into releasing endorphins that actually make you feel happier?" Bonnie paused as she pulled on a matching lace bra. "I'm testing that theory as we speak, and so far so good," she said with a cheery smile that just almost touched her eyes.

"Okay," Damon said slowly, trying to gauge her sincerity. "But if you feel the need to crash from all that smiling, I'm here. You know that. Trust me, I wrote the book on pretending you're okay when you're not, so…"

"Damon, I'm fine. Yeah, I had a bad night, but I'm not going to let that ruin my day. It's a beautiful day out, and I think I'd like to get some gardening done." She stopped as she pulled a long white dress over her head. "My orchids are looking a little down," she said as she skipped over to the walk in closet they shared, pulling on a pair of carnation pink flats.

_Only my girlfriend gardens in a white dress, if you could call it that, _Damon thought to himself with a small chuckle. He followed her out the room, the smell of jasmine lingering behind her.

Stefan sat in the study, writing in his journal. He smiled to himself as he blew the dust off of the cover. It had been so long since he'd even thought about this book, much less picked it up and actually wrote in it.

_October 7, 2012_

_I'm actually scared to write this entry. I want to say how wonderful everything has been, and how happy I've been of late. Elena's adjusting to her new life with much greater ease than I'd honestly expected, a feat I'd attribute to Bonnie's presence; I like to think that having her friend here has help anchor her to her humanity more that Damon and I ever could have. To be honest, almost every good thing that has happened this year could be attributed to Bonnie becoming such a strong presence in our lives. _

_It's an indescribable feeling to be able to breathe easier, knowing that there is nothing coming after Elena anymore. No one wants to touch her knowing that she is under the protection of a Bennett witch. _

_But the most obvious transformation is that of my brother. I've honestly never seen him this happy, not even when we were alive. He actually smiles now, more than I've seen him do in **three** lifetimes. I think Damon has finally come into this place within himself that he's satisfied. And I cannot give credit for that to anyone else—not even myself—but Bonnie. I can say I've kept him from the worst of his darkness in the last couple of years, just as he's kept me from mine. And Elena has sated him to certain degree as well. But Bonnie has not only kept the darkness at bay, but brought his humanity to the surface. The way he dotes on her, it's a side of my brother I've never seen, not even with Katherine. Then again, it isn't hard to dote on someone as amazing as Bonnie. _

_As Damon has mentioned before, I too have never met a witch as powerful as Bonnie, not even Emily, which is saying a lot. The magic she does… I've never met a witch who excelled at **every **affinity. Her magic grows by leaps and bounds every day; she never fails to amaze us. The truly remarkable part is that she's not even aware of how awe inspiring she is. It makes me sad to realize how much we all took her for granted when it came to he—_

Stefan stopped writing abruptly, the smell of flowers and something like morning dew filling his senses. _I guess Bonnie's up_, the vampire thought to himself. Sure enough, a minute later Bonnie flitted past the study, all smiles and cheery _good mornings_, as usual. Just being around Bonnie instantly lifted Stefan's spirits. He put his journal down and followed her scent down the hallway, towards the back door. As he walked down the hallway, his jaw dropped in wonder. The hallway that not an hour ago had small flowerpots lining their bay windows had, in the blink of an eye, flourished into great blossoms; clusters of orchids, roses and daisies bloomed through the open panes, their vines snaking around the borders in intricate weavings. Hummingbirds buzzed outside the windows while butterflies flew around the younger Salvatore, landing on the adjacent window pane.

"It's like living in a forest, right?"

Stefan turned around at the sound of his brother's voice. Damon smiled at the expression on his face. "I know. Every day I wake up like, 'I wonder what she's going to do today?' At this point, you'd think nothing could surprise me, but then she turns around and does something like… _this._"

Damon pointed at the vines lining the hallway, with the buds blossoming into full flower beds before their eyes. Stefan had come home before to discover plants where there had been none before he'd left, but he'd never actually seen it in action.

"The only thing that worries me," his brother continued, unaware of Stefan's inner thoughts, "is that she's more hurt than she's letting on. Whenever she's stressed out about something, she turns to nature. She said it calms her." Damon walked over and touched one of the giant daisies. "Well how stressed out does she have to be to do all of this?"

Stefan walked towards his brother, looking out the window with him. Outside, he could see Bonnie laying out in the grass, her hair splayed out around her like a chestnut colored halo. Her eyes were closed and she had a peaceful expression on her face. She raised her hand and another butterfly floated to her, landing on her finger, her eyes still closed.

"Who does she think she is, the Beast Master?" Stefan laughed at his brother's comment. "But seriously, isn't she something else?" Stefan turned at the obvious adoration in Damon's voice. He was staring at his girlfriend, a smile tattooed on his lips that Stefan was sure he wasn't even aware was there. There was a look in his eyes that Stefan couldn't quite explain, but it startled him more that he felt a pang of jealousy when he looked at his brother. He shook his head to clear his thoughts and quickly pushed the thought aside. "Yeah, she's something else," he answered his brother, turning and walking away down the hallway, leaving his brother with a puzzled look on his face.

As Bonnie lay in the grass, the sun shining brightly on her face, she felt a peace she honestly hadn't felt in a long time, since before her Grams her died. Being in nature always made her feel… _whole_ again, although she obviously didn't know back then it was because she was a witch. Being in her element made her forget all about Abby and her drama; well, if she was going to be completely honest with herself, she couldn't exactly _forget_, but it did help her hurt a little less. Bonnie could feel the spirit of the Earth replacing all her negative energy with a more positive feeling. She tried to list all the things she was grateful for; her good grades, great boyfriend, and wonderful friends. So what if her mother was a flake? She'd come this far without her help, she could go even further. _No one's life is perfect, Bonnie, _she repeated to herself, and continued to smile, eager to test this endorphin theory she'd heard about.

Feeling like she wasn't alone, Bonnie opened her eyes and sat up. In the window facing the clearing she was in, she saw Damon looking at her, smiling. She smiled back, giving him a small wave. He waved back, and she gestured for him to join her. The vampire shook his head, pointing to his shirt, and Bonnie rolled her eyes at his vanity. She lay back down in the grass, and just as she was getting lost in her own thoughts again, she felt someone lay down next to her.

"You came," she smiled and rolled over, rubbing her hand up his torso, but when she opened her eyes, she was surprised to see not Damon, but Stefan.

"Oh!" she said, startled. "Sorry, I thought you were Damon," she giggled, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

"It's okay," he smiled. "Damon said he paid too much for his shirt to get grass stains on it. When I pointed out that you were out here in a white dress, magically," he said with a wink, "grass stain-less, he told me if I was so confident in your laundry prevention skills, that I should come out here. I decided to take him up on the offer," he said with a smirk.

"I'm going to kill him. When is he going to realize that he cannot substitute you in whenever he doesn't want to do something? This isn't a football game; he can't just pluck you off the bench when he doesn't want to be my boyfriend at the moment."

Stefan roared with laughter at her mixed-up sports analogy. "It's okay, really. I don't mind, it's always a pleasure," he said with a smile. "And as far as Damon goes," he added, lowering his voice a bit, "I think, in his own way, he's just trying to make sure you're always happy. Even if he isn't interested in something, he wants you to enjoy it anyway, and I think that's where I come in. I think we've been sublimating for each other for so long, that it's just second nature to us. I'll admit, there's been times when Elena wanted to do things that… weren't exactly my idea of fun, and I've had Damon escort her." Stefan stopped and looked at Bonnie. "I know, that probably sounded pretty messed up the way I explained it, but just know that it comes from a good place," he added, laughing at look of annoyance still plastered on the witch's face. She looked like a young child, her nose turned up and her bottom lip poked out in an adorable pout, innocent yet alluring at the same time. Her arms were crossed across her chest, inadvertently pushing her breasts up in a delicious way. Stefan quickly looked up, meeting her eyes again.

"Yeah, well, I'm not going to make it that easy on him. Your brother has another thing coming if he thinks I'm going to just let him be there at his leisure. It's all or nothing, Salvatore."

"Damon doesn't like things easy, so I don't think he'd have it any other way."

Damon was sitting in the living room, nursing a glass of gin, enjoying the peace and quiet. Just as he was starting to truly relax, Bonnie's ringtone, Jesse McCartney's _Shake_,blasted from the upstairs bedroom. Damon debated just letting it ring out, assuming it probably just Caroline calling to see if she wanted to paint nails or sacrifice lambs to the gods of Sephora and M.A.C., or whatever it was that girls did when they got together. He thought better of it, just in case it was a college or something, and sprinted up the steps, picking up the phone before it rang a third time. He turned to bring it to Bonnie, until he stopped and looked at the screen: _Abby Bennett_.  
Damon hesitated, then answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Damon? Is Bonnie there?"

"Yes, but she's a bit… indisposed right now," he said, not wanting to ruin his girlfriend's great mood.

"Indisposed? Can she come to the phone? I'd really like to talk to her," the older Bennett said softly. Damon sighed, already walking down the hallway towards the staircase. "Hold on," he said, pulling the phone away from his ear and sped to the backyard.

"Sorry to interrupt your date," he said, standing over Stefan and Bonnie, "but you have a phone call." He handed the phone to Bonnie. She glanced down at the screen and her smile faltered. Stefan wasn't sure who was on the other end of the line, but from the look on both of their faces, he figured it was something private.

"Brother, let's give her a minute," he said, getting up and nudging Damon towards the house.

"No, I want to make sure she's okay," he said distractedly, watching her talk on the phone. "It's Abby."

Stefan smiled, remembering his request the night before. "Well, there's nothing you can do until she gets off the phone, so we might as well wait in the house."

Damon hesitated a second before squeezing Bonnie's shoulder and following Stefan back into the house. Once inside, Damon poured himself and Stefan a drink, downing his glass and pouring a second before Stefan had even taken a sip of his.

"I know I _should_ want them to talk again, but it seems like every time Abby comes around, Bonnie gets hurt. I just don't want to see her hurt again."

"I understand that," Stefan conceded, "but that's still her mother, and at the end of the day, we just have to let her work through it however she deems best."

"Why? Why can't I just make Abby disappear for good? Bonnie will just assume that she ran off again, and she can live happily ever after in Abby-free lala land."

"Because that's not you choice, Damon. I know it seems like a good idea in your short sighted brain, but how do you think she'll feel if she ever finds out? That'll end even worse."

"She forgave me for killing her once…"

"Damon!"

"Okay, okay. It was just a thought…" Damon poured himself a third drink, clearly agitated. "What's taking so long, anyways? This has to be the longest they've talked in like, _ever_."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Stefan said, forever playing Devil's advocate.

"Maybe. We're about to see," he said, quickly walking away from the window where he was not-so-conspicuously watching Bonnie.

Bonnie walked into the living room where the two vampires were waiting for the verdict. She plopped down on the love seat across from Damon and closed her eyes, sighing. You could hear a pin drop in the room at that moment. Bonnie opened one eye and peeked at the brothers, smiling when she saw them both staring at her, waiting.

"Well? What do you want me to say?" she laughed at them.

"What happened? What did she say? What did _you_ say?" Damon asked, by now sitting on the edge of his seat, anxious. Stefan smirked at his brother's line of questioning. "Ever thought of a career in detective work, brother?" he teased.

"Shut up, Stefan."

"Nothing too deep," Bonnie said, effectively cutting off their jabs. "We just talked about what she's been doing this past year, what I've been doing this past year, and what we were working towards. She asked me about college, I asked if she'd heard from Jamie. We both agreed that we should maybe talk in person. So she's coming out her next weekend and we're going to do lunch and see where it goes from there."

"So that's good, right?" Stefan said, optimistic.

"Yeah. I mean, it's a start," Bonnie said, smiling.

"Okay," Damon started, "so you two are goi—"

The trio heard the door open, and in walked Elena with Jeremy trailing behind her.

"Elena," Stefan smiled, getting up to take her bags out of her hands, "how was shopping?"

"It was fine, except for the part where Jeremy complained the whole time," she huffed, giving her little brother the evil eye.

"I still don't understand why you couldn't just take Bonnie or Caroline," he whined, an argument obviously continued from earlier. "Do I look like the shopping type?"

"It's called spending quality time, Jer."

"So why couldn't we spend quality time playing laser tag or something?"

"Because laser tag wasn't going to get you a new suit for the ball next week."

"Whatever, **Mom**." Jeremy muttered, walking over to the love seat that Bonnie was still sitting on. "Hey, Bonnie," he said, his mood instantly changed.

"Oh boy," Damon said flatly, getting up to pour himself another drink. "This day just keeps getting better and better…"

"How're you feeling?" Jeremy asked, ignoring Damon. "I heard you haven't had the best couple days."

"Yeah, it's getting better though. Abby's coming next week. We're gonna try this whole 'mother-daughter bonding' thing," she said with a giggle.

"Cool. Maybe you two could become… friends? No, I don't think that's right," Jeremy said, laughing.

Bonnie laughed too. "I don't know what you'd call it, but I'm not going to hold my breath either way."

"At least you have a mother."

Four heads turned toward the doorway of the living room to look at Elena.

"That was… kinda rude, Elena." Jeremy said, his face frowned in confusion.

The vampire exploded. "I'm just so tired of hearing you complain about your mother. So what if she keeps leaving? At least she's _here_ to keep leaving. Every day I wish my mother was here, and here you are, complaining all the time." Black veins started to slightly form around her eyes and she took a step closer to the witch. "I'm so sick of you; you just came over here, taking over everything and everyone's treating you like some kind of goddess. Sometimes I just want to shove m—"

"Elena!" Damon bellowed, stepping between her and Bonnie, who was standing up by now. "Look, I don't know what your problem is, but you'd better figure it out **real** quick!" He took a step closer to the doppelganger, closing the space between them, his own fangs protruding. "Don't you _ever_ threaten her again, or my brother's going to have to go back to hating me for a long, long time." The tenor of his voice left no confusion as to what he meant.

"Wait, wait, everyone just take a minute and breathe." Stefan said, attempting to break the tension between his brother and his girlfriend. Turning to her, he said "Elena, come talk to me upstairs, please."

"No, I don't want to talk. Let's go, Jeremy," she said, storming towards the door.

"Elena, what's your problem?" Jeremy asked, not understanding where his sister's sudden anger had come from.

"Fine, stay here then!" And like that, she was gone. A second later, the engine of her Jeep roared to life and she sped off.

"Are you okay?" Stefan turned and asked Bonnie, who was now in Damon's arms.

"I'm fine. I just… I just didn't know that's how she really felt about me," she said in a small voice, obviously hurt by her friend's words.

"I think she's just been having a bad day, and she's taking it out on you. Her emotions are still on edg—"

"Don't make excuses for her, Stefan," Damon growled angrily. "She meant every word she said and you know it."

Jeremy shook his head. "I don't understand why'd she just come out of the blue an—"

"Oh, grow up, Gilbert! It's not 'out of the blue,' you idiot! She's not you golden girl sister anymore, she's a **vampire** now, and she's obviously been jealous of Bonnie for a long time."

"Damon, calm down, please," Bonnie pleaded, stroking the back of his neck. "Everyone's on edge right now…"

Stefan nodded his head. "Right. Hopefully she's calmed down some by now. I'm going to go after her, see how she's doing."

"I'm coming with you," Jeremy said, walking towards the door where Stefan was putting on his jacket. Stefan looked as if he was going to protest, but stopped and nodded his head, holding the door open for him.

"Don't bring her back with you," Damon called behind him. "I wasn't joking earlier. If she comes near Bonnie again…"

"She won't, I'll make sure of it," Stefan said, his tone serious. He turned to Bonnie. "For what it's worth, I am sorry."

Bonnie nodded her head. "It's not your fault." Stefan still didn't look convinced, but he turned and walked out the door with a waiting Jeremy.

"I'll text you later," Jeremy said to Bonnie softly.

"Don't bother." Damon said flatly.

Bonnie gave Jeremy an apologetic smile and locked the door behind him.

"I can't believe her," Damon said, still angry, as he poured two more drinks. "Here," he said, handing her a glass. "You're gonna need it."

"Did I come and 'take things over'?" Bonnie asked in a sad voice. "Honestly, did I?"

"Oh, no; we're not playing this game. Ignore Elena, she's just jealous of you. She's mad that I spoil you and she's not the main attraction at this circus anymore. Too bad. Screw her. I don't want her back here."

"She _lives_ here, Damon."

"No, she **lives** at the Gilbert's. She was **staying** here. And now she's not."

"That's not fair, she _was_ here first…"

"And your point is? My house, my rules. I don't want her back here," he said again, finality in his voice. "Stefan won't fight me on this," he added, almost to himself.

"Maybe it'd be better if I just went home, at least for a while…"

"**No**. No, no, no. You're not going anywhere! I will get us our own place before I let you go. Maybe that's not such a bad idea, actually."

Bonnie could see the wheels in Damon's head spinning. "Damon, I think moving out is a bit drastic. I'm not leaving you or anything; I just thought maybe it would be better if we all had some time to cool down."

"I'm cool," the vampire said. "I'm cool shoving my fist down her throat. I can't believe Elena," he said with a sigh, as if it was all just hitting him. "I just… You know what? I just want to go to bed, that's what I want to do." He turned and looked at the witch. "Can we just go to bed now, Bonnie? I know it's early, but I just want to sleep and forget about this, at least for now. Is that okay?"

Bonnie could see that there was something on her boyfriend's mind, something that he wasn't telling her, but she decided not to push it. As long as he wasn't talking about hurting anyone anymore, she was fine with waiting until he was ready to talk to her on his own. "Okay, that's fine. I'm tired anyway," she said, grabbing his arm and leading him up the stairs. "We're gonna start fresh and new in the morning, okay?"

"I don't know about that, Bonnie."

"Damon…" she said, smiling knowingly at him. "Fresh and new, **right**? I told you earlier, I refuse to let anything ruin my spirits, even angry, crazy best friends. We can talk about this in the morning, when we've all had a chance to sleep on it, 'kay?"

"Yeah, okay," Damon answered, seeing no reason to continue disagreeing with her, at least at the moment. She stopped them as they got to the top of the landing and cupped his cheeks between her hands.

"No matter what happens, you know I love you, right?"

"I know," he sighed, "which is why I get so mad; I hate seeing you upset, Bonnie."

"I know, and I love you for caring about me so much. I just want you to know that. I get on you a lot, but I do appreciate the way you stand up for me." She smiled at him, looking into his eyes as she stroked his face, running her other hand through his hair. "Don't think I'm weird for this, okay?"

"Oh brother," the vampire said, rolling his eyes, a small smirk forming on his lips. "What is it?"

"I know that that probably should have been the _last_ thing on my mind, but when you jumped in front of Elena, all angry and manly," Bonnie laughed, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment, "you looked so **hot**. I just wanted to jump you right there, but that probably would have ruined the moment," she giggled, pulling closer to him.

Damon's eyebrows rose. "Oh really?" he said, leaning forward until their lips were almost touching. "Well, the moment's over, so don't let that stop you now," he whispered, softly grazing his lips across hers. Bonnie's breath caught in her throat, and she had to bite her bottom lip to keep from devouring his.

"Damon," she moaned as he began suckling her neck, "Stefan will be back any minute. We ca—" Her words were cut off by Damon's tongue parting her lips. He pushed her against the wall and began sliding his hands up her thigh, lifting her dress up around her hips. He hooked one finger into the waistline of her panties and slid them down to her ankles.

Bonnie stepped out of her underwear, forgetting all about Stefan catching them. She hopped onto Damon, straddling his waist as he kissed her deeply. Before she could come up for air, Damon had sped them into the bedroom and laid her on the bed, struggling to undo his own jeans without breaking contact with her. He climbed on top of the witch, and looked into her beautiful emerald eyes before sinking into her in one swift motion. He watched as Bonnie's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she let out something between a sigh and a moan. She looked back into his eyes as she chanted his name over and over again.

"I love you so much," he whispered in her ear as he trailed his tongue from her earlobe to her collarbone, the friction from their clothes adding to the heat of their bodies.

"Damon, Damon… I… Oh, oh, mmm… Damon!" He felt her contract as she found her release, with him not far behind her. They lay like that for a minute, both chests heaving, sweat mingling between their bodies. Bonnie moved first, pulling the dress over her head, unhooking her bra when Damon pushed off of her to take his shirt off. He looked down at her and laid back down on the bed, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her close until their naked bodies were intertwined, her caramel skin in beautiful contrast with his ivory tone.

Downstairs, Stefan came home, exhausted. Elena wasn't at the Gilberts, and she wasn't answering her phone. He'd called Caroline, Matt, and anyone else he could think of, but no one had heard from her. He'd tried to convince Jeremy to stay with them that night, at least until he'd spoken to Elena, but he'd insisted on staying in case she showed up. Stefan finally conceded, making a point of telling him to _keep your ring on_, before he left for the night, pretending not to see the mortified look on the teenager's face.

As he reached the top of the stairs, he looked down and saw a pair of lacy pink underwear next to the wall. It wasn't hard to imagine how they'd gotten there. Stefan stomped to his room and pulled a flask out of his desk, taking a swig before tossing it back into the drawer. It wasn't until he was in his bathroom, washing his face, that he looked into the mirror above him and saw that his fangs were out, the veins around his eyes an inky black. He took a couple breaths, and after his third inhalation, the veins finally dissipated from his face.

Stefan went back into his room and lay on his bed facing the ceiling. He felt like he'd been up for three days. He could hear Bonnie's voice from down the hall, her beautiful falsetto carrying on the wind through the manor's open windows. He thought back to earlier that night to how close he was to reacting the way Damon did, and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to shake the thought out of his head. He got up and closed his window, then walked over to his speakers, filling his room with soft classical music. Stefan got back in the bed and faced the wall, pulling the covers over his head, an action that seemed almost foreign to him, seeing as to how he couldn't remember what it felt like to be cold. Still, he could hear nothing but her voice in his head. He peeked from under the covers and chanced a look at the clock, even though he knew it couldn't be that late. 7:52. Twelve hours until he had to leave for school. Stefan pulled the covers back over his head and prepared for one of the longest nights of his life.


	16. Conflicted Feelings

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Vampire Diaries

A/N: I'm soooooo sorry I haven't updated in so long, but somewhere between midterms and finals I got carried away with life :'( But I'm back now, and I've made this chapter extra long to make up for it! I hope you enjoy! 3

Stefan opened his eyes and gazed up at cracks that had been in the ceiling since he was a little boy. He could hear their muffled voices through the walls, so he knew she was up. He turned his head and glanced at the clock on his nightstand. _7:02am_. He debated laying there until they left, playing hooky and not going to school at all, but that would only buy him 6 hours, at the most. Stefan knew he'd have to face her eventually, but he wanted to put it off as long as possible because he wasn't entirely sure that if he took just one look at Bonnie Bennett, that his brother wouldn't immediately be able to tell what was going on.

Stefan stopped and blinked a couple of time. What _was_ going on? He'd stayed up all night with nothing to do but rehash it over and over again in his head, and he could only come to one conclusion: He was in love with his brother's girlfriend.

It knocked the breath out of him to finally admit it to himself. How could he let this happen again? The question plagued Stefan, and he'd racked his brain all night trying to find an answer, and finally, after 5 exhausting hours, he'd finally pinpointed the moment he fell for the witch, although he didn't know how hard at the time.

_A year and a half earlier_

"Wow, this is really happening. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone."

"Care, get a hold of yourself. We're in public," an embarrassed Tyler said as he looked around, avoiding the eyes of the other patrons watching his girlfriend blubber like a baby.

"It's just," Caroline said, in between tears, "I feel so bad! She hates us; she'd rather spend time with _Damon_ than us. We're terrible, terrible friends, and she hates us." Caroline lay her head in her hands, and began weeping again.

"Caroline, seriously, enough!" Elena snapped, rubbing her temples in aggravation. "Crying isn't going to make Bonnie talk to us again. You're giving me a headache."

"I'm not crying because she won't talk to us again, _Elena_," she said, aggravation of her own seeping into her voice, "I'm crying because I'm sad. I'm sad because Bonnie won't talk to us anymore. She won't talk to us anymore because we hurt her, _Elena_," Caroline said pointedly, putting emphasis on Elena's name again. "And you should be sadd_**er**_ because she's our best friend. At least she was, til she started hating us," she said, beginning to cry again.

Elena sighed and rolled her eyes. Stefan couldn't help but notice Elena's lack of concern at the situation, but he didn't say anything. Elena had enough on her plate trying to deal with her vampire nature without him adding anything more.

Loud laughter interrupted their thoughts. Tyler turned towards the table that Bonnie and Damon sat at, and watched as the duo chuckled at some private joke. In all honesty, he couldn't believe it himself; the Bonnie he knew would have given Damon an aneurysm if he'd sat that close to her before, but now… Tyler shook his head and turned back around. It was weird, but it wasn't any of his business as far as he was concerned. _Now this, _he thought as he looked back at his girlfriend, _is my business._

"Care, sweety, please stop crying. Do you know what Bonnie is doing while you're sitting here bawling your eyes out? She's over there, not giving a damn about us. She doesn't want to talk to us, fine, that's her choice. But I'm not gonna sit here feeling sorry for myself in the meantime."

Caroline looked at her boyfriend with disbelief. "How can you two be so cold?" she asked, shaking her head. "When we were going through our crap, Bonnie was there, even after all the times she got hurt in the process. The least we can do is have the decency to feel bad about it."

"She cut us out of her life, Caroline. What is feeling bad going to solve?" Elena chimed in, looking simply annoyed at the situation.

Caroline stared at her friend. "It's like talking to rocks with you people. Well, sorry if I'm being too _irrational_ for you guys; excuse me while I go mourn the death of my oldest friendship in peace." With that, the blonde huffed away from the table and out the Grille.

"Caroline, wait," she heard a voice call after her when she got to her car. She turned around and faced Stefan, who was three steps behind her. "I'm sorry about Elena; she's just been under a lot of stress—"

"Stop making excuses for her, Stefan. I know you're her boyfriend and all, but she's a big girl now, and she was pretty clear about how she felt in there. I just can't believe that Bonnie called us out and I'm the only one that that doesn't sit right with. How can you all just sit in there and not even feel sorry?"

"I am sorry, of course I am."

"Yeah, you sounded real remorseful in your silence back there."

Stefan looked down, embarrassed. "You're right, I should have said something. It's just…" Stefan looked around and pulled Caroline to the side.

"Look, I don't know what's going on between my brother and Bonnie, but I will say that this is the happiest I've ever seen him—"

"What? He's going around, feeding off of people left and right. And now that Bonnie's using more and more black magic, they're like a match made in Hell. That's what you call **happy**?"

"No," Stefan said firmly, "but I know my brother well enough to know that if he wanted to kill those people, he would have, and you know that too. What's stopping him? Because it definitely isn't me, you, or anyone else in this town." The vampire lowered his voice. "Every since he and Elena… _parted ways_, he's been on this, this… _**binge**_. But since he's been spending more time with Bonnie, he's been… tamer. And that's more than I expected from him. When he's like this… heartbroken like this… there's no telling what he will do. So yes, I might not approve of their actions, but if this is what Bonnie needs to do to forgive us, and if it happens to reign Damon in in the meantime, then I'm all for it."

"Is that all this is about? 'Reigning Damon in'? Do you even care that Bonnie's mad at us? This isn't some temper tantrum, she's really not talking to us anymore. And I don't think she's going to ever again, not this time. But typical, you… _**we**_ are so caught up in our brothers, boyfriends, _ourselves_ that we don't even care. Well I do care, even if it is too late," she added sadly as she opened her car door.

Stefan reached his hand out, but pulled it back as he watched her drive away. More than anything, he wanted to tell her how much he did care. But how could he admit to her something he couldn't even think to himself? It tied his stomach in knots to think about how much it hurt him when Bonnie removed herself from their lives.

_Screw you._ Those were the last words she'd said to him, to any of them, before she walked out. She hadn't so much as acknowledged his presence since, no matter how many times he tried to talk to her. Stefan never thought they would stop being friends; they had survived werewolves, hybrids, and Originals. Surely they could get past this, right?

But Caroline was right, they had mistreated Bonnie. And it hurt him that he couldn't see past Elena to realize it. He couldn't imagine what Bonnie must've went through. Stefan thought back to the day she confided in him about her Grams' spirit's death. She cried in his arms, and he still had her do him a favor. _It's for Elena, _he'd told himself, but now that seemed so ludicrous, a waste, especially since he and Elena weren't on the best of terms at the moment.

But he meant what he'd said about her and Damon. The elder vampire might not have wanted to admit it, but he was falling for the witch, as was evident by his sudden change in dining habits. Damon having feelings for Bonnie was a scary thought, for both of them, but what was even scarier was the feeling that the thought of Bonnie and Damon being together gave Stefan.

The vampire took a deep breath as his eyes began to fade into an inky black. He exhaled as he felt some of his humanity slip away from him. He knew it was dangerous to shut even a tiny part of it off, but it was necessary to block this out, these thoughts he shouldn't be having, these feelings he **could** **not** have. It was always going to be Elena, right?

Stefan opened his eyes again and was again greeted by the cracks in the ceiling.

_All of this is my fault_, he thought as he sat up in the bed. _Everything, all of it._

He padded into his bathroom and began to run the water, the steam quickly filling the room. The water scolded him as he got in, hot enough to burn a human, but he didn't care. He deserved it. Stefan's thoughts wandered back to last night as the water poured down his chest.

…_you just came over here, taking over everything and everyone's treating you like some kind of goddess…_

Stefan tried to look at it from her point of view; after her and Damon had decided that they were better off apart, Elena came crawling back to him. And he had to admit, it did his ego some good to know that he was still the one she always ran to. He'd led her to believe that there was a chance of them getting back together, and he meant it, he really had. But then Bonnie came in and shook everything up, and nothing was clear anymore. All the things he'd thought he'd knew went right out the window. Suddenly, the front seat wasn't reserved for Ms. Gilbert anymore, and he didn't always answer the phone when he called. When asked if he had plans, now he had to see what Bonnie was doing before he decided. And he knew Elena felt it and that it hurt her, but after everything they'd been through, he didn't feel so bad about hurting her, as horrible as that sounded.

The part that haunted Stefan the most though, was the fact that they trusted him. Whenever he doted on Bonnie, everyone chalked it up to good ol' Stefan the gentleman, that he was only being a good friend to Bonnie, that he was being so nice to her because she was his brother's girl. Oh no, not **Stefan**. He's the _good _brother, remember? Well, if he were to be honest with himself, Stefan was tired of being the good brother. Taking the high road had gotten him nowhere but heart ache, and he was sick of it. He'd given Elena everything, done terrible things to save her, and in the end, it still wasn't enough.

Bonnie, on the other hand, she was different. Bonnie was sweet and good, pure of heart. She was nothing but smiles and sunshine; so strong for someone who'd given up so much. Bonnie was everything Stefan wanted in a girlfriend; she was loyal, loved fiercely, appreciated her man, and would die to save the ones she loved. More than anything, Stefan wanted to tell her that he felt the same way about her. _The same way she feels about my brother._

And what about Damon? On one hand, he knew that this was his brother's first real relationship, and that he truly loved Bonnie. But the other side of Stefan, the Ripper side, the side that was slowly but surely becoming more prevalent, didn't give a fuck, in all honesty. How many times had Damon taken what wasn't his to take? Surely one girl was nothing to the many women in Stefan's past that Damon had slept with.

Stefan stepped out the shower, shaking his head to clear those thoughts he shouldn't have been having in the first place. Bonnie was not his, nor did she want to be. He thought back to the first day he'd met her, how he remembered hearing her tell Elena that he was hot. He found her enticing, but he couldn't see past the Doppelganger at the time. He regretted that decision more than anything now.

Stefan began to dress when he heard a light tapping on his door. "Stefan, are you up?" a soft voice whispered through the doorframe. An unconscious smile spread across his lips as he opened the door. "Good morning, Ms. Bennett. How may I be at your service today?"

Bonnie giggled and handed him a mug. "I made you breakfast," she giggled again.

"Awww, you shouldn't have," Stefan smiled as he watched Bonnie take a sip of her own hot chocolate.

"Well, you weren't up when we got downstairs, and usually you're up at the crack of dawn. I figured it must be one of those mornings, so I figured I'd help you get your day started…" Stefan took a sip. "…with a little kick." Bonnie smiled naughtily. Stefan choked a little, not expecting the shot of scotch in his blood. "Did it work?"

Stefan laughed heartily. "Oh yeah, it worked. Definitely up now,"

"Okay, well we'll be downstairs when you're ready. Oh, and by the way, you mind if I catch a ride with you to school? Sheriff Forbes called an early Council meeting, so Damon won't be able to drive me."

"Sure, no problem. Be ready in forty?"

"Yupp, that's fine. See you in a few."

Bonnie turned to leave and hesitated. "Stefan?"

"Hm?"

"Have you… heard from Elena?"

Stefan stopped and stared at Bonnie. Stefan couldn't believe it; Elena had hurt Bonnie not even 24 hours earlier, and here she was, worried about her. He faltered, before he answered. "No, I haven't spoken to her. I don't know where she is, but I doubt it's far. I'm sure she'll turn up; she's a vampire now, she can take care of herself."

"I don't think she'll be in danger, but… she didn't seem herself last night. I'm just worried… I've never seen her that way before, especially not towards me. I don't know… like I said, I'm just worried."

"I know you are. She's lucky to have you, she just doesn't appreciate it right now."

"Yeah, you too," Bonnie said, squeezing his arm. "See you downstairs."

Downstairs, Damon made breakfast for Bonnie while she talked to Stefan. As he slid the eggs on the plate, he heard Bonnie padding down the stairs. "…and breakfast is served," Damon said as he put the plate down in front of her chair.

"Mmm, smells good. Thanks," she said as she leaned up and kissed him. Damon wrapped an arm around her and pulled her closer, kissing her deeper. Bonnie giggled and pointed at his mug. "_That's_ your breakfast, not **me**."

"I can have both," the vampire smiled. "I'm very hungry today," he added in a whisper, wiggling his perfectly arched eyebrows.

"Damon, I have to leave in 40 minutes."

"All I need is 30."

"There's no way I'm getting ready in 10 minutes. Now back up so I can eat. I don't trust you," she said, wagging her finger at him playfully.

Damon grabbed her around the waist as she turned her back to him. He pulled her close to him and began suckling on her neck. "Mmmm," he moaned into her neck. "Don't go today, stay home with me."

"You say that every morning."

"And you don't listen, _every morning_," he replied as he ran his hands up her torso. "You smell so good," he whispered in her ear as he nipped at her earlobe.

"Mmm, Damon. Please, I'm going to be late…"

"I'll compel them to change your attendance. Better?"

"No."

"Oh well, I tried," Damon said as he spun her around gently and pushed her against the table, not so gently. He lifted her light frame onto the tabletop and pressed himself between her legs, running his fingers through his hair as he kissed her passionately.

Bonnie moaned into his mouth, snaking her arms around the back of his neck. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arched her chest against his as she felt him pressed against her, rock hard. Damon slipped one hand up her thigh and between her legs, her moisture making him even stiffer. He lay Bonnie across the table, and whispered in her ear "Ever had sex in the kitchen? Of course you haven't…" he smirked. "Well, we're about to cross one more thing off your list…"

"Oh no, not on the kitchen table, please."

Bonnie jumped up, surprised and embarrassed as Stefan strolled into the room, a look of amusement on his face. "Oh no, this ride isn't going to be awkward at **all**," Bonnie groaned as she got up and pulled her nightgown down. "I'm going to get ready," she said quickly, as she sped out the room.

"Impeccable timing, brother," Damon said sarcastically as he collected Bonnie's uneaten breakfast.

"Sorry. But to be fair, I didn't expect a peepshow when I walked into my kitchen."

"Well whose fault is that? Shoulda knocked before you came in."

Stefan glanced at the doorless kitchen frame and chuckled lightly. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?"

Damon looked over. "Yeah, what's up?" he said as he dropped the plate in the sink.

Stefan lowered his voice. "Listen, I talked to Elena. But I told Bonnie I hadn't, so don't say anything."

"Why not?"

"Because she'll want to talk to her, and right now Elena isn't in much of a talking mood."

"What the hell for?" Damon yelled. "Bonnie didn't do anything to her!"

"Keep your voice down, Damon. She'll hear you."

Damon took a deep breath and looked at his brother. "So what's her problem?" he asked again.

"She was a little all over the place when I spoke to her, but from what I can gather, she won't come back to the mansion until Bonnie leaves."

The anger flushed Damon's face again. "Good. So don't come back, no one cares. She can go be a spoiled brat wherever the hell she is—I don't care, by the way—and Bonnie and I can go back to sipping Margaritas and almost having sex on the kitchen table like we were doing before. Adios and good riddance, if you ask me."

Stefan sighed. "Damon, you have to look at it from her point of view—"

"No, I don't, actually. Good try though," the vampire said as he strolled out the kitchen to the living room where he prepared to make his first drink of the day. The younger Salvatore followed him.

"Damon, listen. Elena was _sired_ to you—"

"Oh boy, here we go with **this** again…"

"—and even though that bond was broken—"

"I thought we weren't going to talk about this anymore?" Damon asked, annoyed.

"—there may still be some feelings there." Stefan said a little more forcibly in an effort to make Damon hear him. "So how do you think it makes her feel to see you two together, huh? You two had something, and then _POOF!, _all of a sudden you and Bonnie have something, and you and her have nothing. So yeah, she's a little jealous, I'll admit. But cut her some slack, it has been two years, Damon."

Damon turned and looked at Stefan. "Why are you telling me this, that Elena might still have feelings for me? Last time I checked, you two were still going strong and that's kind of the exact definition of what a boyfriend **doesn't** do. Encouraging his girlfriend's feelings for her ex. So what gives?"

Stefan looked at his brother for a long moment before answering. "Let's just say I'm not in denial about the scope of her feelings for you the way I used to be. And if admitting it is the first step to getting over it, then I'll be the first one in line. That wasn't me encouraging _you_ to explore any residual feelings you might still have though, of course."

"Sorry to burst your bubble, brother, but I'm with Bonnie. And unlike certain Doppelgangers we know, I don't flip flop on my feelings."

"Good to know." Bonnie said, walking into the living room fully dressed.

"How much of that did you hear?" Stefan asked, his face stoic.

"Probably not enough, but I don't wanna know. You ready?" she said, grabbing her coat off the hook by the door.

"Yeah, let me just grab my jacket." Stefan jogged up the steps, leaving the couple in the room.

"About however much you heard…" Damon started, taking a step closer to Bonnie.

"Nope. Like I said, I heard enough. If I wanted to eavesdrop, I would have. I heard the part where you declared your everlasting, undying love for me, and that was all I needed to hear." She laughed, and gave him a peck on the lips.

Damon smiled, and pulled her back to him. "Last chance; stay home with me?" He decided to lay it on thick and, in addition to the sad voice, gave her his infamous puppy dog eyes.

Bonnie almost melted right there. She knew he was doing the theatrics for her benefit, but she also knew that that was coming from someplace real, that he really did want nothing more than for her to stay with him every day. But she couldn't do it. Sure, he'd made compelling arguments before: _Who needs a diploma when they're rich? We can travel any__**where **__we want, any__**time **__we want, and do any__**thing**__ we want; remind me again why you need to go to school? Don't you trust me to take care of you, Bonnie?_

And she did trust him. But she knew that he could never understand why she wouldn't take the easy way out. Bonnie wanted her life to mean something, not just that she lived off her boyfriend for most of her life. She also knew he didn't see it that way, but she did and she was determined to, at the very least, make it out of high school. Preferably alive.

"Damon…"

Damon's face dropped into a frown. "I know, I know. You'll see me when you get home," he said with a small laugh that neither one of them believed. "I'll be here," he added quietly.

Bonnie kissed him again, this time a little slower and longer. She wanted to leave him with _something_. But Damon, being the greedy vampire he was, wanted more than a kiss. He pinned her against the wall and kissed her deeply, going even deeper when he felt her lean into him.

Upstairs, Stefan was panicking. How much _had_ Bonnie heard? Would she hate him for trying to push Damon and Elena back together? Had she—wait, what? Stefan stopped at the closet as he reached for his jacket.

_Be honest with yourself, Stefan, _a voice in his head told him. _Because that's __**exactly**__ what you were trying to do._

"No." Stefan said out loud. "No," he said again, hoping it would sound believable in his own ears the second time around. But it was no use. Once he admitted it to himself, he couldn't run from it anymore. The problem was, one truth usually sheds light on the rest.

_Tell Damon why you were so eager for him to side with Elena. Or tell Bonnie how easily you'd break her heart, so you could swoop in like the hero and claim her for yourself. Show her what being with the 'good' brother would be like…_

The Ripper laughed at Stefan's anguish. That's who he was, right? The 'good' brother. That's who he'd always been. There was no way he'd scheme for his brother's girl. Right? Stefan wasn't so sure anymore. He wasn't sure about anything anymore, actually. He only knew two things definitely: He loved her, but was no longer **in** love with Elena Gilbert, and that he would never rest peacefully again until he had Bonnie Bennett, even if it destroyed him.

Stefan looked up, and realized he was still in front of his closet, holding his leather jacket. He slid it on as he made his way to the staircase. He turned the corner into the living room, and came face to face with what had recently become his worst nightmare.

His brother was propped against the living room wall with his hand up the shirt of the woman they loved. The trio stood like that for what seemed to him like hours, until Stefan pulled himself together and let out a light cough from the door way.

"Second time in an hour, and neither time was in your bedroom. You guys do know you have one of those, right?"

"Nope, won't be awkward at all…" Bonnie whispered to herself, embarrassed, as she squeezed Damon's hand and walked towards the front door. "I'll be in the car."

"Again with the not knocking, Stefan? If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to sneak a peek. Although I don't blame you; my girlfriend has a great rack, and if I were you, I'd be trying my hardest to catch a flash of witchy boob myself." Damon smirked and poured himself another drink.

"You're disgusting," was all Stefan said as he walked out the room. "I'm going to school, Damon," he said from the hallway. "Wouldn't wanna keep all that 'witchy boob' waiting."

Damon laughed all the way back upstairs where he proceeded to get ready for the Council's meeting.


	17. Two Sides to Every Story

Stefan got into his car and started the engine. Bonnie had her head conspicuously tilted away from him, her cheeks a deep scarlet.

"…and cue awkward silence… _now_."

Bonnie sighed. "Sorry. I just… I don't find it… _appropriate _for people to keep catching me… in compromising positions with my boyfriend."

Stefan chuckled. "That's an interesting way of putting it. But, if it makes you feel any better, that's not even close to the most 'compromising' position I've caught Damon in." From the look on her face, it didn't. Stefan laughed again.

After a second, Bonnie laughed too. "Don't take this the wrong way, but you've seen way too much of me than you should've."

_Not nearly enough,_ the Ripper thought, his eyes unconsciously wandering to Bonnie's cleavage. His family's crest lay perfectly between her breasts, willing him to reach out and touch her.

"Don't look at me like that. You're giving me the 'Stefan disapproves' look." Bonnie frowned. Stefan had to fight the urge to laugh in her face. _She seriously thinks I'm __**that**__ pious? If only she knew what I'd do to her if she let me help her into one of those 'compromising positions'…_

"Haha, no. I was just thinking about—" He stopped.

"Elena?"

"Yeah." He agreed quietly. _Sure, I was…_

Bonnie faced turned somber as she reached out and put a warm hand on his shoulder. Stefan could feel the heat of her body through his jacket, causing him to grip the steering wheel hard enough that he felt it begin to give underneath his fingers. He closed his eyes, fighting the urge to drag those warm hands down the length of his body, past his waistline…

Bonnie took Stefan closing his eyes as a sign of hurt, and it made her heart ache for him. She couldn't believe Elena would hurt him like that, after everything they'd been through. In all honesty, she didn't have the faintest clue _why_ she and Stefan were fighting, but she knew it had to be bad if Stefan was so visibly hurting like this.

As they pulled into the parking lot of the school, Stefan felt Elena before he actually saw her, but Bonnie saw her first. "Oh, wait, I forgot, I was supposed to meet Caroline on the field before class. You think you could drop me off before you park?"

Stefan looked at Bonnie and could do nothing but laugh again. He saw what she was trying to do, made all the more hilarious by the fact that Bonnie was a horrible liar. It just wasn't in her.

"It's okay, Bonnie. I saw her. I'll be fine."

Bonnie frowned. "Are you sure? Because we don't have to go today. We can turn right back around and go home. Damon will be thrilled," she laughed lightly.

Stefan smiled and placed a hand on hers. The feel of her warm skin made his hand grasp a little tighter than he should have, but Bonnie hadn't noticed. "I promise, I'll be fine. And, hey," he added, leaning forward, "if I'm not, I know I've got you." The vampire smiled and stared into her eyes.

Bonnie smiled back, unaware if the deeper meaning behind his words. "Of course you do, Stefan. Like I said, we can ditch this whenever. I'd much rather be at home than school anyway," she smiled wider, getting pulled into the vampire's charm. To her, this was just another heart to heart with a friend.

But for Stefan, it was the beginning of a path he couldn't turn back from, not until he saw it to the end. Not until he saw how far this thing with Bonnie Bennett would go. He had to know, could he really make her his? It was worth a try.

Elena waited for 20 minutes, convinced he wasn't going to show. She'd saw everyone else arrive; Caroline and Tyler, separately, surprisingly. Matt and Rebekah, which also surprised her. It seemed like a lot had happened while she wasn't looking. But no Stefan. And no Bonnie, not yet. But it wasn't really Bonnie she dreaded to see. It was who'd be driving her.

She hadn't really meant to blow up like that, but it made her so angry to see her own flesh and blood hovering over Bonnie like that, like she was some sort of angel. And then Damon, always doting on her hand and foot; he didn't look twice at her anymore. And come to think of it, neither had Stefan. They all flocked around Bonnie like she was the center of the universe, and Elena was sick of it. When had she become so invisible? She wasn't used to this.

She knew she'd have to make up with Damon somehow. That wasn't part of the plan. In fact, it was the exact opposite. She was supposed to make him **want** her, not hate her. _Way to go, Elena_, she thought to herself. Now what was she supposed to do? She'd figure something out though, her and Damon always did.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she saw Stefan's car pull up. Actually, she'd never seen this car, a cherry red Mustang, but who else's car could it be? Sure enough, it pulled up and she spotted his caramel hair shining in the morning sun. Elena hopped off the stairs she was standing on and started to walk towards his car. She knew this was going to be bad, but she hoped he wouldn't make a scene since they were in public.

Elena was halfway there when she realized that there was someone else in the car. _Are you kidding me?_ Who else was in the car with him but Bonnie herself? Elena wanted to scream. "Why are you **everywhere**?" she growled to herself. "You ruin everything." Now how was she supposed to talk to Stefan? The vampire was broken out of her rant as she watched Stefan lean closer to Bonnie. She then noticed, for the first time, that they were holding hands. _What the hell?_ Elena watched his eyes gleam at Bonnie, and it made her angry because that was **her** look, that was how he looked at **her**. Reserved for **her** only. She could feel the veins around her eyes starting to show, and had to remember that she was in public.

Bonnie laughed. "Okay then, school it is," she said, breaking the moment, and grabbing her bag, taking her hand out his in the process. Stefan's eyes lingered on her before he sat up and opened his door.

He got out the car and was on her side in a flash. He opened her door, and held out his hand. "Allow me," he said, the sun blazing behind him.

Bonnie laughed again. "Why, thank you Mr. Salvatore," she said playfully, going along. "But I only expect Damon to do that," she added, smiling.

"I can't help it, it's how we were raised," he replied. "After you," he gestured towards the entrance of the school.

As Elena watched the exchange, she became even more confused. Just how blind had she been? Because if she wasn't sure that there was something going on between those two before, she was certain now. The pair walked towards her. _It's now or never, Elena._

Bonnie stopped when she saw Elena. The two girls locked eyes, Bonnie not really caring to see what the vampire had to say this time. Elena broke eye contact first, and looked at Stefan. "Can we talk?"

"Actually, I was on my way to class. We're late enough as it is, Elena."

"I just need a couple minutes, Stefan."

"I'm gonna go ahead," Bonnie said, turning back towards the school, "I'll be right over there," she added, not having to finish the sentence. _…if you need me._

"You have sixty seconds." A beat. "Fifty nine."

Elena took a deep breath. "Stefan, I'm sorry about what happened last night. I was upset with Bonnie, and I took it out on you. But I want us to make up; you know I hate fighting with you, Stefan."

He sighed. "You and I both know that our problems go a little deeper than that, Elena. Let's talk about _why_ you were mad at Bonnie, how about that?"

"W-what do you mean?" she said, pulling her brows together. "I was mad… I was mad because of Jer, and everything else."

"Everything else like **what**, Elena?" he said. "Just say it. Like Damon. You were jealous of her and Damon."

"No," she denied it, looking up at him with doe eyes. "No, Stefan, I don't care about Damon, it's you." The last thing she needed was him telling Damon that, at least, not while he was still mad at her. She was a bit surprised at the actual amount of truth in her statement.

"I'm not stupid, Elena. I can see that all this time, nothing's changed. You still can't be with me one hundred percent. And that's probably my fault, but I really thought this time around…" Stefan stopped. He was getting emotional, and he wasn't expecting that. He was supposed to be over Elena, how could he not be after everything? But even though he knew this was coming, he wasn't ready for it to hurt just that bad. Elena was the love of his life, and despite everything, there was still a piece of him, whether he wanted to admit it or not, that truly thought that they would make it in the end. And now, there was just **this**. Arguing in the school parking lot, the subject of morning gossip.

"Don't try to turn this all on me, Stefan!" Elena raged. "I saw how you were just looking at Bonnie! I'm not the only one confused about what they want then."

"We are **not** having this conversation right now," he gritted through clenched teeth. He looked up to where Bonnie was still waiting for him on the stairs.

"Oh, now we're not talking about it? Real convenient, Stefan." Elena sneered. "We're not through talking about this." she said as he pivoted around her, on his way to class.

"Not by a long shot, Elena."

Stefan jogged up the steps putting a hand on Bonnie's shoulder as he headed for the school. "Sorry I took so long. You didn't have to stay, I told you I'd be okay." He tried to smile away the tension as they reached her locker, but her face told him that she wasn't going to laugh this one away.

"Is that stuff true? That you said about her and Damon?"

Stefan sighed again. "You heard that, huh?" he said, pressing his lips together.

Bonnie looked up, eyes big. "Is it true?" she repeated, frowning. It suddenly seemed much more real—much more _serious_—hearing it from someone else.

"Maybe. I don't know." He paused. "It's nothing for you to be worried about though."

"What do you mean? My boyfriend's ex wants to get back with him, and I shouldn't be worried?" The witch's eyes flashed a bright emerald green, and Stefan caught just a glimpse of the immense magic that flowed through Bonnie Bennett. She was emotional and not even aware of the fire she was exuding.

"I never said she wanted to get back with him—"

"No, Stefan, she's satisfied just pining for him on the sidelines!"

"Bonnie, please, I think we've all had enough public fights for one day…"

"So you weren't ever going to tell me? When I asked 'What's going on between you two?' you weren't going to tell me that you were fighting because of _Damon_?" Bonnie had already known about Elena's motivations, but she thought she was the only one, besides Caroline that had noticed. It made her angry to think that everyone had known before her, talking about it behind her back. She always though Stefan, of all people, would be honest with her about something like this. Another thought crossed her mind. "Does Damon know?"

"Bonnie, listen. I'm sorry that this is hurting you, and you're right, I should have told you, but no, I didn't tell Damon either because… because… it hurts, okay? So excuse me if I wasn't in a rush to let my brother know that I'd, once again, lost the her to him, whether he wants her or not," he added quietly.

Bonnie was quiet. "I'm sorry about that," she whispered, suddenly aware of the tears in her eyes. "I didn't stop to think how this might affect you too. I understand why you didn't tell me, of course. Like I said, I'm sorry." Bonnie smiled and hugged Stefan.

Stefan knew it was wrong to play on Bonnie's emotions like that, but he just couldn't have her mad at him. That wasn't part of the plan. If there were two things that Bonnie didn't play with, it was her friends, and her boyfriend. He knew that as soon as he showed her any hurt he felt by Elena's actions, she would forget all about her own concerns and focus on him. She was selfless like that, sometimes to a fault.

It wasn't that he didn't care about her feelings, but he didn't need her worried over Damon right now, not when it was about him and her right now. The funny thing about it though, was that things couldn't have been timed more perfectly if he'd planned it himself. Elena was in the wind, leaving Stefan conveniently heartbroken, giving him the perfect excuse to get closer to Bonnie.

All he could think about were those heart to hearts he shared with Bonnie, and how good it felt just to be around her. She was like a burst of sunshine in the dreary manor, reviving the two vampires. Stefan couldn't remember the last time he'd felt this good; he'd been stuck in a rut with Elena so long, he'd forgotten that there was more to life and love. There was a time when Elena made him feel just like this, like a ray of sunshine struck through his heart, but it seemed like that time had run its course. He sighed, and pushed those feelings to the back of his heart. He was done with Elena.

Snapped out of his reverie, Stefan glanced up and locked eyes with Bonnie. She gave him a small, understanding smile. "Welcome to the 'Gilbert Broke My Heart' club, population: 4," she leaned in and whispered conspiratively to him. Stefan laughed, harder than he had in a long time, ending the chuckle with a long sigh.

"This is sad. I shouldn't be here pining over the girl who obviously has her priorities messed up. I should have done this a long time ago." He stood up and took a deep breath. "I'm done with Elena Gilbert," he declared, more to himself than Bonnie. Feelings for Bonnie aside, Stefan suddenly realized just how taxing being in a relationship with Elena could be. He was ready to move on from that, although he had to admit, he hadn't expected 'moving on' to be competing with his brother again. The thought dismayed him, and he pushed it away, burying his humanity deeper still.

Bonnie looked up at him and found herself smiling. It was kind of sad, seeing them break up again, but somehow, Bonnie couldn't find it in herself to feel very bad. Stefan was looking happier today than she'd seen him a while. And to be frank, Elena deserved it; she hadn't been a good friend to _anyone_ lately.

Bonnie smiled supportively and followed the vampire into the school. She giggled as they made their way to class, slipping past the office to avoid detention for being so late.

Damon walked out of Sheriff Forbes' office with a bored look on his face. "I don't even know why I still come to these things," he muttered to himself as he got in his newest car, this one a navy blue Porsche. Ever since Klaus had left town, things had been quiet for once, leaving the council with nothing to talk about at these meetings that she, for some reason, insisted on continuing. In fact, the last 'big bad' they'd had to face was… well, Bonnie. Damon grinned wide, remembering when his little witch finally came to the dark side.

He gripped the steering wheel as he thought about her badass Expression days. Everything was a mess between the group at the time, and he had to admit, he'd loved it. It was sexy as hell to see her put everyone in their place, even when she turned her fiery wrath on him.

"_What do you want, Damon?"_

"_Maybe I just wanted to see you,"_

"_Maybe I just want to barf."_

_The vampire mockingly placed a hand over his heart. "You wound me. I like to think you've enjoyed our time together just as much as I have…"_

_Every night for the past week Damon had been showing up at her window, sometimes talking with her for hours. He never asked to come in, and she never offered, but the question was always there. Bonnie wanted, more than anything, to tell him to go away like she had almost everyone else, but for some reason, she just couldn't bring herself to end these late night visits. It made her angry with him, and herself._

"_We're not doing anything together, Damon. What are you getting at, why are you here?"_

"_I told you, maybe I just—"_

"_Don't screw with me Damon!" Her eyes flashed a brilliant green, the air crackling with magic. He loved seeing her like this, so raw and emotional. It wasn't very often that he met someone whose passion matched his. "We both know that we don't like each other, so why are you here?"_

"_I don't know, Bonnie, why are __**you**__?" he asked, staring at her with crisp blue eyes. "If you hate me so much, why are __**you**__ still here?"_

_Bonnie paused, her words stuck in her throat. The question surprised her, although she'd been thinking the same thing not moments before. But hearing it out loud was completely different; his acknowledging it made it real. It made this… __**thing**__ she had going on with Damon Salvatore real. And that wasn't something the witch was at all ready to deal with._

Damon snapped out of his memories as he passed Mystic Falls high school. "Maybe Bonnie'd be up for a little _afternoon delight_," he thought out loud as he pulled into the parking lot. He laughed at his own raunchiness; he was a complete horndog, and not at all ashamed of it.

As he strolled through the halls of the school, he smirked as he watched females of all ages ogle him. He ignored the flirty stares and 'accidently' dropped books as he peeked down various halls looking for the only woman he was interested in spending time with.

"Damon,"

The vampire turned around, and his smile instantly turned into a scowl. "What do you want Elena?"

"Can I just talk to you for a minute?"

"No, I'm busy," he said dismissively as he pivoted around her, his search resumed.

"Looking for Bonnie?"

"Yeah," he said, turning on his heels. "Why, have you seen her?"

"Not for a couple of hours. She's probably with Stefan," she added.

Something about her tone didn't sit right with him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing. That's just who I see her with the most…" she trailed off.

"Whatever, unless you know where she is, go away." He stalked off, but turned around and came back until his face was inches away from hers. "On second thought," he growled, "if you _do_ find out where she is, go far, far away from said place, you understand me?

"Don't think I forgot about your little fiasco last night. If you ever threaten Bonnie again, you'll wish you'd have died on that bridge that night." With that, he turned and walked away.

Elena stood wide eyed, watching his retreating back until he disappeared around the corner. Damon had never talked to her like that before and, for the first time, she was actually a bit frightened by him. She took a deep breath and regained her composure, bee lining for the exit.

Damon eventually found the brown skinned witch outside eating with… sure enough, his baby brother, along with Caroline and Matt. She was laughing hard at something Matt said as her eyes locked with his.

"Damon!" she popped up, running into his arms. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to steal you away early," he said, joining the group at the table.

"Stop it, you know I have class. We pretty much just got here as it is!" she giggled, snuggling into his lap.

"Actually," Caroline piped in, "I'm with Damon on this one. Omg, did I just say that? Ew. But yeah, I think we should all ditch. I've had enough of this place, and it's way too nice to be cooped up in that prison. We can try this 'productive student' thing again tomorrow."

"Exactly. Everyone listen to Neurotic Barbie and _let's go_," he said, getting up. "C'mon, we can all fit in my car."

"But, wait—"

"No 'buts' Bonnie. Sometimes you gotta just _do_." The vampire grabbed his girlfriend's hand and started towards the parking lot, a giggling Caroline in tow.

"Actually, I have a math test in… 17 minutes," Matt spoke up, glancing at his watch. "Gonna have to take a rain check."

"Fine, more booze for me!" Damon tossed over his shoulder, still making his way towards the parking lot.

"Bye, Matt. Come by after your test!" Bonnie shouted between giggles.

"Yeah, I'll try to save you a shot, assuming that Bourbon Bob over here doesn't drink it all." Caroline added.

"I can't make any promises…" Damon said offhandedly. "You coming, little brother?" he said, turning to Stefan.

"No, I have something I need to do, I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"

Damon assumed that 'something' started with a 'E' and ended with 'lena' so he didn't push it. He shrugged, and started back for the car. Stefan could hear his brother as he paced away; "…_so I guess it's just me and you, ladies_…" Stefan could practically hear him wiggling his eyebrows in a dirty manner.

It wasn't that he didn't want to go, he really did; he wanted to go wherever Bonnie Bennett was. But Stefan just wasn't in the mood to watch the couple fawn over each other while Caroline gushed over how 'disgustingly, gag-worthy adorable' they were. Stefan slowly made his way to the parking lot himself, taking the long way to ensure that his entourage had left. He pulled out the lot, and made his way to the highway, beginning a trip that was long overdue.


End file.
